Writing Prompt Mini Stories
by cdghuntermco
Summary: This is a series of min-fics written for Writing Prompt Wednesday over on the RWBY Subreddit, moderated by user Shandromand. Some will be humorous, some will be sad, and some will get dark. All characters and all genres are up for grabs, so feel free to also make a prompt of your own if you enjoy my work!
1. A-S-S

**The Prompt – A meeting of the students at Beacon who only use a sword without any modifications.**

 **Characters – Jaune Arc, Yatsuhashi Daichi, Sage Ayana, Scarlet Davidson, Octavia Ember, Neo Politan OCs**

The Assembly of Simple Sword Users

* * *

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late," Jaune said as he burst into the classroom.

The meeting was a bit smaller today, he noted. Including himself, Yatsuhashi Daichi of Team CFVY, and Sage Ayana and Scarlet Davidson of Team SSSN, there was only about a dozen people in attendance. The others were probably busy with their teams preparing for the Vytal Festival.

"Don't sweat it," Sage told Jaune as he sat down in between him and Yatsu (That was what the Eastern man insisted everyone call him so they didn't break their vocal chords). "The professor isn't even here yet."

"Where is he anyway?" Scarlet wondered aloud. "Professor Arthur is usually already here before everyone else shows up."

"I believe he had to go collect someone," Yatsu chimed in. "I recall him mentioning a new person might be coming to our meetings."

 _A new person?_ Jaune wondered. He figured everyone at this school who used a simple sword had been to these meetings at least once. Who else could there be?

His musings were cut short when the door to the classroom opened once more. Professor Arthur himself stepped through, hovering by the door instead of taking his usual seat at the head of the circle (Right next to Scarlet's seat but no one felt the need to point that out).

"Good afternoon everyone!" he greeted with an accent that might have been considered off-British if they lived on Earth. "Terribly sorry for making you all wait, but I had to go and collect our newest member! Everyone, please give a warm welcome to miss Neo Politan!"

The door swung open yet again, revealing a girl with a white, brown, and pink color scheme. The first thing Jaune noticed was that she was small. Like, smaller than the fifteen year old Ruby Rose small.

The second and arguably more important thing was that she was _incredibly_ hot.

Judging by how most of the guys in the room straightened in their seats, Jaune wasn't the only one to realize this.

"Hello, Neo," everyone said, although this time the greeting lacked its usual monotone inflection of boredom.

Twirling a lacy parasol on her shoulder, Neo took a deep bow for them in greeting. She must not have realized it, but the angle gave them all a prime view of her cleavage through her top. Again it was obvious to see that everyone took notice.

"Miss Neo has issues with speaking, and thus is very shy, which is why we haven't seen her at any of our meetings thus far," the professor informed them. "Therefor I will be translating for her, and I expect everyone to be on their best behavior."

"It's really not a problem," Sage was quick to assure the girl. "I mean Scarlet here is plenty weird and we still let him in."

"Heeeey..."

Professor Arthur laughed heartily. "Good one Mister Ayana, but let's try to keep the ribbing to a minimum. Now, shall we?" Neo nodded and the two of them walked over to take their seats. Jaune valiantly did his best to not stare at the way Neo's hips swayed tantalizingly with every movement.

Neo sat daintily in her seat, crossing one leg over the other, and regarded them all with a sweet smile. Most of the boys did the same, in the hope of keeping certain things hidden.

"Neo, would you like to go first?" the professor asked. The girl nodded happily and collapsed her parasol before tugging on the handle to pull her short sword out of it.

After setting the parasol aside, Neo made a series of hand motions with her free hand that had Jaune mesmerized despite the fact he had no idea what she was doing.

"Miss Neo says this is her _misericorde,_ " Professor Arthur translated, who apparently could understand sign language. "It is a lightweight short sword used primarily for deflecting attacks and quick stabbing moves."

"It looks to be quite the elegant weapon," Yatsu marveled.

"And really well designed," Jauned added, hoping no one could detect he had no idea what he was talking about.

"Eh, it's alright," said Scarlet.

Neo then pouted cutely, cradling her weapon with a worried look. After a few hand gestures Professor Arthur said, "Miss Neo confessed she was anxious about coming today. She felt that since her parasol acted as the sword's sheath, it might be too considered too interesting for the likes of us."

"N-no, that's okay!" Jaune instantly leaped to her defense. "My sheath turns into a shield and my friends still make fun of me for it!"

"Yeah, mine can act as a telescope!" another student Jaune didn't know by name added. Jaune got the feeling he might have hated the other boy.

The professor turned to Neo and said, "You see? This is a place of acceptance. You needn't worry about feeling out of place here."

"Of course not, we're one big happy family!" Sage told her eagerly. Neo preened and nodded, a beautiful smile stealing its way across her face.

The girl made a few more gestures. "Miss Neo is now telling me there was another reason she wanted to attend. She says she wanted to see the different kinds of swords other people used, and how they differed from the one she has."

"You can check out mine!" another student offered. Jaune added another person to the list of those he hated.

"No, try mine!" he insisted, rising to his feet. "It's called _Crocea Mors_ and I'm pretty sure it was used by the King of Vale a long time ago!"

All the students bounced in their seats when Yatsu slammed the tip of his greatsword on the ground. "My sword might be a little ungainly for someone as nimble as yourself, but I would be more than willing to help you practice with it."

From there all the boys were worked up into a fervor, each yelling over each other to try and gain the fair maiden's attention. Professor Arthur looked so pleased to see his students participate so eagerly for once. Scarlet watched them all with a bored expression. For her part Neo just sat there, positively glowing with all the attention being showered upon her.

"Okay, what the fuck?!"

Silence descended upon the class room, and slowly they all turned to face the other girl in the room with red hair, green eyes, and a blue dress.

She stood up angrily and said, "I have been coming to these things for weeks and you all haven't so much as glanced at me!"

For a moment no one spoke, too stunned for words. Then Sage bravely stepped forward and asked, "But aren't you Octavia Ember?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"And you're from Team NDGO right?" Yatsu asked next. "The one with all the girls?"

"Yeah, so?"

All the boys were exchanging worried glances. They all knew what had to be said next, but it seemed no one wanted to take that plunge.

So Jaune, being the hero that he was, took that leap.

"See, the thing is, we all kinda assumed you were a lesbian."

And that is the story of why Beacon's West Building burned down.


	2. Strange Bedfellows

**The Prompt – Jaune and Cinder have a discussion where they become closer to one another.**

 **Characters – Jaune Arc, Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai**

Strange Bedfellows

* * *

A strangled gasp of terror diverted Jaune's attention from the dark woods surrounding him. He turned around in time to see a red blur practically rip her sleeping bag open and sprint away from their camp site. He lost sight of her as she weaved through trees, but her echoing sobs could be heard for a while longer.

The only other person to react was Emerald, dragging herself slowly out of her sleeping bag while rubbing her eyes. Ren, Nora, and Ruby were thankfully still asleep. Only Jaune and the green haired girl were awake at the moment, besides their sixth traveling companion.

Emerald blinked blearily and looked around, finally catching sight of Jaune. "Cinder?" she asked him.

"Another nightmare," he confirmed.

The girl sighed, peeling herself out of her bag. "I'll go talk to her."

"What if I talked to her this time?" Jaune suggested. Emerald's reaction was immediate, giving him a wary and suspicious look. Albeit a rather tired one, but it still did little to hide the distrust she had for the blonde.

"It's just that you're still half asleep," Jaune was quick to explain. "And I see how much trying to get Cinder to break out of her shell wears you down. Let me field it for once. Besides, you're up next on the watch rotation anyway."

Emerald held the stare for a few moments, judging Jaune and his proposal. Despite reaching an alliance and understanding with the two women, it was a shaky one at best, forged only because Cinder and Emerald had no one else to turn to.

In the end Emerald shook her head and waved him off. "Fine, go talk to her. But I want you to come back and get me if nothing comes of it."

Jaune rolled his eyes but nodded. He actually kind of missed it when Emerald was nicer to them all. Sure it was an act meant for deception, but at least she was much more pleasant to be around.

Leaving Emerald to watch over his friends, Jaune set off in search of Cinder Fall. It wasn't too hard to find her, since after a minute of walking he could simply hone in on the sound of retching. Jaune came up behind Cinder, finding her bent over and leaning against a tree while she purged what was left in her stomach.

Cinder glanced over her shoulder at the sound of his boots crunching in the grass. "I'm fine," she rasped. "Go away."

"Because vomiting in the middle of a forest at night is totally what a person whose fine would do," he drawled. Cinder apparently had enough energy to give him a weak glare as she stood up straight. Wordlessly he offered her his water canteen and a clean cloth, which Cinder begrudgingly accepted. While she rinsed out and wiped off her mouth, Jaune calmly but firmly led her away, if only so the smell of sick wouldn't be so pungent in the air.

After walking for a minute Cinder collapsed against another random tree, hugging her knees to her chest and pointedly staring at nothing besides the ground. "I don't want to talk to you about it," she said once more.

"No one's saying you have to," he told her, still standing. "If you want I can go get Emerald."

Cinder didn't answer, instead tucking her chin even further into her arms. Jaune couldn't help remarking that the woman he'd met a handful of times back at Beacon would never stand to let herself appear so small and vulnerable. But despite still looking the same and acting mostly the same, he knew this wasn't exactly the same Cinder Fall.

"Do you hate me?" The question was so quiet Jaune almost missed it, stuck in his own musings.

He was quick to answer, "I don't…" But then he was just as quick to stop short. He was about to say he didn't hate her, but that would have been a lie. Or at least not the whole truth.

Gingerly he sat down next to her, speaking slowly as even he needed to process his words as he said them. "There are parts of Cinder Fall that I hate, I think. She took away some of the best things I'd ever had in this life. And I don't think I can ever forgive her for that."

Cinder took a long breath and nodded minutely. She probably expected the answer, maybe even wanted him to hate her so it was easier to justify hating herself.

"But that doesn't mean I hate you," Jaune added. That got Cinder's attention, making her turn to him with a dumbfounded look. "We still don't know what exactly Ruby did to you that night after… the tower fell, but I know the woman who came down from it wasn't the same Cinder Fall who orchestrated the attack. She would have never agreed to come with us to Mistral to try and find the people behind all of this. She would never try to make amends for what she did."

"Probably because she knows there's no way she ever could," Cinder said ruefully. "There was so much destruction, Jaune, so many people dead or hurt. And even if I can't remember any of it, I know it was all my fault. I still made the choice to destroy so many lives and I don't even know why I did it. And for what? Magical powers that do nothing more than paint me and the people around me as targets?"

"That's why we're going to Mistral," Jaune was quick to assure her. "We'll find your old home and retrace your steps from there. Hopefully that will lead us to whose behind this, and all of us can get the answers we're looking for."

Cinder looked at him askance. "And what answers are you looking for, Jaune?"

"I… I want to know why Pyrrha died. I want to know what was so important that she felt she had to get herself involved with things we barely understand. And I want to know if… if there was something I could have done to save her."

The questions have been tearing him up inside for months now. He always thought back to the last real conversation they had, before what happened with Penny and everything went south. If he had known at the time what he knew now, Jaune would have had a different answer for her question. Maybe one good enough to convince her not to go through with it.

"Do you really miss her?" Cinder asked.

"More than anything. I… Pyrrha and I were close. I didn't take her death well, but you probably understand that better than anyone else can."

How could she not? He still remembered Cinder down on the ground, looking up at him with a terrified but accepting look in her amber eyes. Neither of them could forget how he held Crocea Mors over her chest, all the anger and sorrow he felt screaming at him to drive the blade through her heart. But a quiet voice that sounded like Pyrrha's told him not to, and he spared the life of her murderer.

"I… I'm…" Cinder paused to take a shuddering breath. "I don't understand why you don't hate me."

"Because hating you won't solve anything, and it won't bring Pyrrha back." Cinder grit her teeth and shook her head at his answer. Jaune's brow furrowed with frustration, tired of how Cinder was trying to hide behind her own self-loathing. "Cinder, what's wrong? Does it have to do with your nightmare? What don't you want to talk to me about?"

"I… I was… I was back at the top of Beacon Tower," she whispered shakily. Jaune felt his blood go cold. "I had a bow and arrow in my hands… Pyrrha was there, kneeling in front of me… and I drew the arrow back… and I-"

A hand clamped over her mouth to stifle a new set of sobs. Jaune hadn't moved yet, feeling like his limbs had turned to stone. "What happened?" he demanded. He knew the answer, but he still needed to hear her say it.

"I killed her," Cinder told him, the words sounding like bile on her tongue. "I shot Pyrrha through the heart and immolated her until there was nothing left but the tiara now forged into your shield."

Cinder was visibly shaking now, breathing deeply to try and get her nerves under control. Jaune didn't know how he was supposed to react. They both already knew what she'd done, but this was the first time she's ever confirmed it with her own words.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, too stunned to think of anything beyond stupid platitudes.

"I don't know," she shook her head. "In the dream I remembered getting some kind of perverse satisfaction out of… doing it. I was glad to do it! But after I woke up my senses returned and all I felt was sick. Taking a life isn't supposed to be something to be happy about, but I was broken inside, incapable of caring between right and wrong. Now I just feel like shit for being the shitty person I am."

They were both quiet for a long time. Cinder was out of energy and Jaune was still trying to digest everything she'd told him. He didn't know what to do. How were supposed to react when someone expressed their sorrow for killing the person you loved?

"That's why you should hate me," Cinder whispered. "Please believe me when I say I am so sorry for what I did, Jaune, for all of it. But I don't expect your forgiveness. I don't deserve it."

Who was Cinder Fall to decide what she did and didn't deserve? How could anyone make that decision? She made mistakes, just like everyone else has. Just like he did.

"I didn't deserve forgiveness," Jaune started. Cinder looked at him with confusion but waited for him to explain. "Months before everything went down, Pyrrha and I got into an pretty bad argument. I was struggling, and Pyrrha only wanted to help, but I was too pig-headed to accept it because I thought if I didn't stand on my own two feet, I was worthless. I said some pretty nasty things to her, and then for weeks afterword I wouldn't talk to her because I was too afraid to admit my mistakes."

He was of course talking about when he'd confessed to using forged transcripts and his subsequent enslavement by Team Cardinal. But to this day he felt all the abuse Cardin and his lackeys put him through was nothing compared to the look of anguish on Pyrrha's face.

"When I finally wised up, I groveled at her feet, knowing full well I didn't deserve to be forgiven. Pyrrha had every right to hate me, because I failed her as both her partner and her leader. But Pyrrha never hated anyone, no matter how much they might have deserved it. Pyrrha gave me another chance, and I'll be eternally grateful for that. From then on I spent every moment I could proving to her that I could be deserving of her forgiveness."

Jaune took a long breath after finishing. This was the most he's talked about Pyrrha ever since her passing. It felt… cathartic, in a way. It felt good to know even if she was gone, he'd never forget her. A part of her would always stay with him, and that knowledge brought him comfort.

"This isn't the same," Cinder argued weakly. "Pyrrha and I didn't get into a simple argument. What I did was so much worse-"

Cinder was silenced with a gasp when Jaune's hand reached out and took one of her own. He gripped it tightly, but Cinder didn't pull away. They looked at each other, blue eyes staring into golden ones, and Jaune could see drops of moisture collecting in the corners.

"You killed Pyrrha Nikos," he stated without inflection, because it was merely a fact, and emotions couldn't change facts. "But I know deep in my heart that Pyrrha wouldn't hate you. If anything she would have pitied you, felt sad that someone could have fallen so low. And if she could see you now, Pyrrha would be overjoyed to learn you were trying to make a better person of yourself and fix your mistakes. Because she always saw people for their potential, not just for their actions."

Jaune looked at their entwined hands, his voice hoarse. "I loved Pyrrha. You took her away, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for that. But I won't let that stop me from being the kind of man Pyrrha always knew I could be. And you aren't letting your past stop you from trying to make things right. I know Pyrrha would be just as proud of you as I am."

Cinder blinked several times, her mouth opening and closing but now words coming out. She stared at his hand gripping hers, like she could barely understand how physical contact could be anything other than violent.

"Do you really believe I could be a good person?" she asked, her voice treading the line between hope and despair.

"It won't be easy," he warned. "I know firsthand what it's like to stumble and fall. But if you have faith in yourself and let those around you help build you up, than I know you could be a good person."

She nodded, and when Cinder blinked he saw something new in her amber gaze. He saw resolve, determination. He saw the desire to be more than a simple henchman in someone's else plan. Cinder Fall wanted to be a good person, and Jaune knew he'd be there to help her achieve that goal, just like Pyrrha did for him.

Silently, Cinder shifted closer so their arms were touching and laid her head down on his shoulder. Jaune let her do it, keeping their hands joined. Together they listened to the muted stillness of the forest at night, both of their hearts more at ease than they have been for a while.

"Thank you, Jaune."

It was strange, the situation Jaune found himself in now. Here he was, bonding with the person responsible for the death of someone close to him. And yet in order to find justice for Pyrrha, he was putting his faith in her murderer's hands. But not because of whom she was and what she had done. It was because he knew who she could be and could still do. Jaune was willing to take a chance on her, because that was the kind of person Pyrrha always wanted him to be.

"You're welcome, Cinder."


	3. The Crow's Daughter

**Pre-Author's Note: This particular mini-fic is getting a big content warning and reader discretion is advised. This fic will contain mentions of a past rape, and if that is offensive to you I would recommend not reading any further.**

 **The Prompt – Qrow is revealed to be Ruby's real father. How do Ruby and/or Yang react to this?**

 **Characters: Ruby Rose, Qrow Branwen, Raven Branwen**

The Crow's Daughter

* * *

Boots kicked up sods of grass and dirt as the man sprinted through the darkened woods. He was running full tilt, his breaths coming out in ragged gasps for air. He had to make it to her. He had to explain…

Qrow burst into a clearing and ground to a halt, his blood going cold at the sight before him. Across the way two figures stood in front of a red and black portal. The taller one, his twin sister Raven, spared Qrow one last contemptuous glance before walking through it, and a moment later the portal winked out of existence. The clearing was deathly quiet after she was gone, leaving behind only Qrow and the girl with the red hood.

"Ruby, are you okay?" he asked her. She turned to him, and even from a distance he could see the tear tracks on her cheeks. "What did Raven tell you?"

"Was she lying to me?" Ruby replied, her voice only a watery whisper. Qrow swallowed thickly, unsure of how he was supposed to answer. "Or was Raven telling me the truth?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what she said, but it's more complicated-"

A blur of red roses streaked across the clearing, and despite his years of experience Qrow only barely managed to block the attack. The scythe of Crescent Rose bit into his sword, the force enough to dig Qrow's feet into the ground.

"Stop lying to me!" Ruby shouted. She jumped back, twirled her weapon and went for an underhanded attack.

Qrow deflected the strike but didn't capitalize on the opening it left him. This wasn't a fight he was trying to win by beating his opponent bloody.

Ruby, however, had planned for this. Qrow's second of hesitation allowed her to fire a shot from her scythe and propel the blade into his side before he could react. Qrow was launched a few feet away, rolling across the dirt before coming to a stop.

He stuck his sword into the ground as he picked himself up. "Ruby, please listen to me, Raven doesn't know the whole-"

"Shut up!" Qrow winced, it sounded like she was tearing up her lungs to yell at him. "Stop lying and tell me if you did it!"

Qrow had no idea how to tell her what she thought she wanted to hear, and he could only shake his head. A strained, pleading noise drifted from the back of Ruby's throat, and the girl was off again, teleporting to his side and going for an overhand slash. Qrow was more prepared this time, blocking the attack and sweeping her legs out from under her.

Ruby rolled to her feet and sprinted around him in a wide circled, firing off shots with her sniper rifle. Qrow spun his blade to block the shots, but Ruby was fast, and her bullets faster. He knew she'd tag him if he stayed stationary, so Qrow fired one blast into her path to distract her while he transformed into his bird form. Maybe he could come back when she calmed down…

"No!" Ruby screamed, brilliant silver light filling the clearing for a brief moment. It was enough to make Qrow cry out in pain as he was forced back into his human form. He crashed back to the ground like a lead weight, his skin burning and insides toiling around.

Before Qrow could pick himself up, the unmistakable feeling of a gun barrel was pressed into the side of his head. Slowly Qrow turned to find Ruby staring down at him, her sniper rifle pointed at his skull, and her silver eyes lacking any of the love he'd seen there for years.

"Tell me," she ordered, voice deadly serious.

"Ruby," he pleaded, "It's not what you think."

"Stop it," Ruby hissed through gritted teeth. "You've been lying to me all my life, to everyone! Stop being a coward and tell me the truth!"

She pressed the weapon harder into his head.

"Did you take advantage of Summer Rose? Did you _rape_ my mother?"

The clearing was quieter than a graveyard for several moments. Ruby's tears were flowing freely now, and it was only then Qrow finally realized there was nothing he could do to try and salvage what was left of their relationship. So he took a deep breath and steeled himself for what he had to say next.

"Yes, I did."

Ruby made a complicated sound; a gasp that was both relief to finally hear the truth and shock because of how horrible that truth was. The way she looked at him, a stare full of broken trust and betrayal, broke Qrow's heart.

"I-I don't un-understand," Ruby sputtered, her weapon wavering slightly but remaining on target. "You were on the same team. You and Summer loved each other. How could you do that to someone you loved!"

"I did love Summer," he told her. "So much so that it hurt because I knew she never saw me the same way. The night she told me she and Taiyang had gotten together, I couldn't take it anymore and I told her how I felt. But Summer rebuffed me, said she could never love me that way, and I snapped. I'd had a lot to drink and I wasn't thinking straight-"

"Are you seriously trying to give me excuses?" Ruby cut in, dumbfounded. "You raped Summer Rose and you think being drunk would make everything okay?"

"It doesn't," he quickly agreed. "It won't ever be okay. I hate myself for what I did, please believe me, Ruby. And I've spent my entire life since trying to make things right."

"By lying to me for years about who my real father is," Ruby seethed. Qrow didn't have an answer for that and merely hung his head with shame. "And I had to find out from Raven Branwen of all people. My dad, Taiyang, he doesn't even know, does he?"

Qrow shook his head. If he'd known then Tai would have murdered Qrow years ago. It was part of the agreement. Summer wouldn't out him, and in return Qrow would never meet his daughter. He did it because he thought that would be best for Ruby, to spare her from the pain.

He should have known fate would put them through it anyway.

"I trusted you," Ruby said between great heaving gasps. "I looked up to you like a hero! I never knew you were the worst monster I'd ever known. I should… I should…"

Qrow was acutely aware of the weapon still pointed at his skull, and how Ruby's finger started to squeeze its trigger. He didn't want to die, but there was nothing he could say to change her mind if she wanted to pull the trigger and snuff out his miserable excuse for a life. Qrow closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

For a long time, and the only sound he could hear were Ruby's sobs. He instinctively wanted to hold her and sooth her, like he did after they found out Summer was dead. Maybe he was a coward for only having approached his daughter after her mother was dead, but at the time Qrow didn't think he could survive on his own. And with Summer gone, he didn't want Ruby to be alone.

"I can't do it," Ruby sighed, and Qrow felt the barrel pull away. He dared to open his eyes once more, and he saw Ruby standing there, Crescent Rose loose in her hand and her silver eyes full of tears. "You're sick and disgusting and a coward, but I can't kill you, no matter how much you deserve it."

"Ruby," he tried once more, reaching for her.

"Don't." She jerked her hand back and took several steps away from him. "There's nothing left to be done. I don't ever want to see you again. I don't care if you're really my father, because…"

She looked him straight in the eye, and Qrow knew it was over. The spark he'd seen in her eyes for years, the flame of happiness and compassion and life, was gone. And it was all his fault.

"… I hate you."

Ruby was gone a second later, and all Qrow had left to remember her by were the rose petals drifting to the ground, and the sounds of crying echoing through the trees.

"I'm sorry," he muttered after her, still kneeling in the mud and dirt.

* * *

 **Author's Note - To provide some context, I fall in with the camp of people who very much dislike the idea of Qrow being Ruby's real father. I knew with this prompt at least a few people would go the route of Ruby being happy to have Qrow as a dad, and I wanted to offset that nicety with some good ol' fashion FEELS.**


	4. Anything for You

**The Prompt – In a surprising twist, Jaune manages to kill Cinder after she killed Amber and absorbed the Fall Maiden's power.**

 **The More Surprising Twist – The prompt didn't specify HOW LONG after, and this mini-fic ended up being a sequel to Strange Bedfellows.**

 **Characters – Jaune Arc, Cinder Fall, General Ironwood, Winter Schnee**

* * *

They said when you loved someone, you'd be willing to do anything for them.

"Jaune… I need you to kill me."

Jaune Arc was about to learn what exactly _anything_ meant.

He gaped at Cinder Fall, not believing what he heard. "Are you being serious? Because we're not exactly in a position to be making jokes right now!"

On cue they both winced as another explosion rocked the building they were in. Ironwood's troopers were doing their best to break into the safe house Jaune and Cinder were in now, courtesy of Winter Schnee's help. The reinforced door still held, but they only had minutes before their last line of defense was toppled.

"I am serious!" Cinder refuted. "Jaune, you know what he'll do when he captures me. I… I can't go through that. We both know there's no way I'd survive then."

Jaune grimaced, all too aware of what she meant. Ironwood had grown zealous in his pursuit of the Fall Maiden's power. When he captured Cinder, he would stick her in the same machine initially intended for Amber and Pyrrha over a year prior. They still had no idea what exactly would happen, but Jaune could only imagine the worst outcomes when Cinder's Aura was ripped out of her body.

"But there must be some other way," Jaune pleaded despite being painfully aware there were no avenues of escape, and he knew Ironwood couldn't be reasoned with. "I can't just… _kill_ you, Cinder, not after everything we've been through."

"It won't be permanent," Cinder assured him, though there was still a frantic edge to her voice. "Just long enough to be considered clinically dead, so the Maiden's powers will leave me and go to a new candidate. You can bring me back afterward."

"How could I possibly do that?"

"With these." Cinder withdrew two syringes from a pocket and handed them to Jaune. One had a sickly violet color, and the other was a warm amber. "The violet one is a targeted muscle relaxer. It will… stop my heart, essentially."

"Where did you get these?"

She gave him a guilty look. "I confessed this might be an eventuality to Winter, and she procured these for me. In light of the other transgressions she'd be making, I thought a few missing drugs wouldn't land her in any more trouble than she'd already be in."

"Right… and the other one?"

"An adrenaline shot. I need you to inject this into my heart after you've confirmed I no longer have the Maiden's powers."

"Cinder, I don't know if I can do this," Jaune fretted. "What if when the Maiden's power leaves, it means your soul's gone too, and then there's no coming back." His hands clenched around the vials. "I can't… I can't lose you. Not you too."

Slender fingers slid over his, and Jaune looked up into Cinder's beautiful golden eyes, feeling how her limbs trembled with trepidation. In the background another boom could be heard, followed by the creaking of the door in protest. They didn't have long.

"I don't know if I can do it either," she whispered. "I don't want to die, Jaune, but Ironwood will never let me live while I still have the Maiden's power."

She pulled on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jaune buried his face into her shoulder, holding Cinder as tightly as he dared. He wished they were anywhere else, someplace safe where they could just… be together.

"What I do know is if there's anyone who'll do anything to bring me back from the dead, it's you," Cinder continued, voice free of doubt. "I know you can save me, Jaune. You've already done it twice before."

He let out a shaky laugh. "I wish I had as much confidence in myself as you do." He pulled back, giving Cinder a steady stare. "If this is what you think is best, we'll do it. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"Thank you, Jaune," she whispered. "I'm sorry I have to ask this of you, but I only do it because there's no other way. Now I'm going to need your belt, so take it off."

"If only Yang were here," he sighed, just the thought of their bombastic friend enough to inject some levity into the dire situation. Together they kneeled on the floor, with Cinder tightening the belt around her arm while she showed Jaune where the needle would go.

A pale arm in one hand, vial of poison in the other, Jaune couldn't help freezing up. He was essentially about to kill the woman who murdered his closest friend. If Cinder were still that evil and malicious woman he would have done so without hesitation. But this was _his_ Cinder, and despite all odds he'd grown closer to her than anyone else he knew. He was afraid, simple as that. Afraid it wouldn't work; afraid he'd lose her forever… afraid the old Cinder Fall might come back.

But then he looked to her, and while he saw the same fear in her eyes, he saw determination there as well. Cinder was willing to do anything to protect those she cared about now, and Jaune had his own promise he intended to keep.

Cinder nodded to him, Jaune nodded back, and he pushed the needle into her skin.

She hissed with discomfort as the fluid was injected, and once it was gone Cinder undid the belt. Both it and the vial were tossed away, and together they waited for what would come next.

For a moment nothing happened. "Is it working?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know," Cinder said, brow furrowed with worry. "Winter didn't say how long it was supposed to-"

Cinder gasped weakly, pitching forward. "Cinder!" he panicked, lunging forward and catching her before her face impacted the ground. She was starting to minutely shake, and her eyes were wide as they sought his own.

"J-Jaune?" she whimpered, her voice deathly quiet.

"It's okay, I've got you," he tried to say reassuringly. He shifted Cinder onto her back so he could cradle her head against his shoulder. "I'm here."

Her eyes started to drift close, and Jaune felt her body go limp. "I'm scared." Her voice was barely louder than that of a mouse.

"It's okay to be scared," he told her, mostly because he had no idea what else to say. "But I'm gonna bring you back, and then everything will be alright. Okay?"

The noise she made was quiet and weak. Jaune wasn't sure if it was a response; he wasn't sure if she'd heard him at all. He held her close; rocking her somewhat in what he hoped was a soothing fashion.

A last, tortured breath escaped her lips, and Cinder went still. Something caught in Jaune's throat, and slowly he moved his hand to feel he neck.

There was no pulse. Cinder Fall was dead.

He didn't stop holding her as he waited. There was another explosion, and Jaune saw the door visibly cave inward somewhat, but by some miracle it did not yet yield. He knew the next assault would be the last, but hopefully it would be enough time.

When one minute stretched into two, he started to panic. Jaune wasn't sure what was supposed to happen, but he felt _something_ should have happened by now. As the third minute ticked by he started eyeing the adrenaline shot more meaningfully. He wanted to respect Cinder's wishes, but more than that he didn't want to lose her.

Just when he couldn't wait any longer and raised the vial, Jaune froze when Cinder's body suddenly started glowing with amber light. Before he could realize what was going on, the light convalesced over her chest and more or less exploded outward. The intensity of its flash caused Jaune to shield his eyes and look away, and when he looked back it was gone, finding nothing more than the woman in his arms.

 _That must have been it_ , he decided. He had no idea if Cinder's plan actually worked, but he couldn't wait any longer. Carefully laying Cinder on the ground, he ripped open her top just enough to expose her upper chest and found the space between her ribs where her heart would be. Jaune gave Cinder one last pleading look, and then he jabbed the needle into her heart and pushed the plunger.

After the amber fluid was done being injected, Jaune tossed the vial away and waited.

Cinder didn't move.

"No…" He felt for her pulse again, but there was still nothing there, and then the panic truly set in. "No no no no no… Cinder!" He gripped her shoulders and shook, softly at first but stronger when she didn't respond.

"Cinder, wake up!" he pleaded desperately. Not knowing anything better to try, Jaune placed his hands over her chest and started doing compressions. After a set of those he tilted her head back and pressed their lips together, blowing air down her trachea, then repeated the actions.

"Please don't do this," Jaune begged between reps, his voice ragged. "Please, not you too. Not you too. Wake up, Cinder, wake up! I can't lose you!"

There was yelling outside, people telling each other to get back, and Jaune knew his time was up. He just managed to throw his body over Cinder's when the explosion hit, sending the door tumbling in to the room with a shower of debris. Chunks of rock pelted his back and legs while a cloud of dust settled over the room, causing him to hack and cough.

It was then Jaune realized he wasn't the only one coughing.

Despite how much the dust made his eyes water he forced them open, and what he saw made him sob without abandon. Golden eyes blinked away tears of their own, and after a moment they focused on him.

"Ja… Jaune?" Cinder whispered between wheezing coughs.

"You made it," he breathed, breaking out into a wide smile. Cinder smiled back weakly, the effort strained because of how sapped her body was. But he didn't care about that. She was alive; that was all that mattered.

"Get on the ground!" someone yelled, and Jaune yelped when someone dragged him off of Cinder. His face was forced to the floor and his arms bent backward as cuffs were slapped on his wrists. Beside him the same was being done to Cinder.

Even as Atlas soldiers dragged them out of the safe house by the scruffs of their necks and into an altogether worse situation, not once did Jaune's smile dampen even the slightest.


	5. Team Carmine

RWBY is owned and operated by Roosterteeth

 **The Prompt** – A snippet in the life of Cinder, Emerald, Mercury and Adam as if they were a simple first year Beacon team alongside RWBY and JNPR.

 **Characters –** Cinder Fall, Adam Taurus, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, Melanie and Miltiades Malachite

* * *

The wine was shit. Cinder wasn't surprised, as establishments like the Red Ax Club catered more to the casual drinkers who simply wanted enough beer or vodka to drown their problems away for a night. They wanted dancers and partyers, the kind of people who wouldn't think twice about ordering another round of cheap alcohol to keep their collective buzz going. Those like Cinder who preferred a more sophisticated drink unfortunately had few options to choose from.

Still, Cinder sipped the sugary red drink because tonight was not a night of sophistication. It was a night of excess and drowning one's problems in cheap alcohol. Not hers, of course, Cinder had nursed her drinks slowly as the night wore on for that little extra boost of fortification. No, tonight she was actually being selfless for a change.

"Cinder!" At the calling of her name she turned in her seat to see Emerald coming toward their table.

 _Finally here, I see. It feels as though I sent that message ages ago._ Mercury was there as well but he hung back, appearing to be trying to chat up the twin bouncers. The Malachites had kept a respectful distance from Cinder and Adam all night, after the one dressed in red tried making her moves on him and Adam had responded by more or less trying to rip her arm off.

"We got your message, sorry it took us so long to- oh." Emerald stopped in her tracks when she was finally close enough to see the state Cinder's partner was in now. "He looks like shit."

Indeed he did. At the moment Adam's stylish jacket was thrown over the back of his chair, leaving him in a plain white shirt. The man himself was face down on the table, out cold with his arms splayed in different directions. A number of empty beer glasses littered the table around him. No vomit as of yet; small mercies.

"Is he alright?" Emerald asked her.

"Adam will be fine," Cinder replied. "He's simply reached his limit is all."

"I didn't think he'd take so hard to drink," Emerald said as she took the seat next to Cinder's. "Did something happen to set him off?"

"Something like that." Cinder sighed and swirled her drink in its glass. "You of course know your best friends Yang and Ruby on our aptly named sister team."

Emerald nodded. The expression she made was something of a grimace laced with compassion. Everyone knew the Rose-Xiao Long sisters were an excitable pair, and they failed to understand how Emerald preferred to keep people at arm's length. But Emerald never formally pushed them away, seeming to understand they were some of the first people she could actually consider her friends.

"Apparently Adam was in a relationship with their team mate, Belladonna," Cinder continued. "And it would seem that relationship ended shortly before the school year began."

"Taurus and Belladonna did have that spar in Goodwitch's class today," Emerald recalled. "You could tell there were a lot of emotions in play. I've never seen a fight as brutal as theirs."

Cinder hummed in agreement. Afterward, all the Beacon team leaders received a message informing them sparring classes would be postponed until the school could fix the damage her partner and Belladonna caused to the arena.

"I think they must have talked briefly afterward, and Adam finally realized they wouldn't be getting back together. Afterward he approached me and asked if I would watch over him while he drowned his sorrows, and here we find ourselves now."

Normally Cinder would have thought someone weak to take to vices to forget about their problems. But she knew Adam was placing a great amount of faith in her to ask for such a favor. His dislike of pretty much everyone not a Faunus was well known throughout the school. But he trusted his partner enough to allow her to see him in the sorry mess he was now. As the kind of person who generally disliked all others herself, Cinder knew how difficult it was to place your faith in someone else's hands.

"He hasn't literally drowned himself I hope," Emerald joked. "He didn't get too crazy while he was plastered, did he?"

"No, it would appear Adam is the kind of drunk who's overly melancholy. He finally started talking after a few drinks, but by then it was mostly just rambling about the mistakes he made and how much he hated himself. Typical love sickness."

"You want me to take few pictures so we can have blackmail for later?" Cinder's response was nothing more than a simpering look. "Alright, it was just an idea, don't burn my face off."

With a roll of her eyes Cinder raised her hand and snapped her fingers, instantly drawing Mercury's attention. He pocketed a slip with a more than likely bogus phone number and gave the twins one of his cocksure smiles before heading over. They shared a disgusted look before walking away themselves.

"Looks like he had fun," Mercury commented when he drew near.

"Even if he did, tonight's festivities are over," Cinder decided as she stood from her chair. "I want nothing more than to return to our room, ideally before Adam decides to purge his stomach."

"We left a cab running outside," Emerald informed her. "I assumed you wanted us to carry him?"

"Naturally. You don't think I'd debase myself to carry a drunk out of a bar, would you?"

Emerald and Mercury shared a 'What can you do' look and moved to their task. Mercury poked Adam's cheek. "Come on bud, time to wake up."

Even in his inebriated state Adam still had enough sense about himself to react to what might be a threat. Or he tried to, at least. What Cinder assumed was supposed to be a move to grab Mercury's wrist and immobilize him ended up being more of a week slap.

Adam blinked several times at looked up at his aggressor. "Oh, it's just you."

"Yup, it's me." Mercury's wide grin was enough to tell them he was enjoying this immensely. Together he and Emerald each got a hold of Adam's arms and hoisted him up. Adam was too lethargic to resist and simply stumbled along with them as they left the bar. Cinder collected his coat and followed after them.

"You know, you should probably ask me next time you wanna get hammered," Mercury suggested. "I know much better ways than with cheap booze a step above piss."

"I'm sure you'd know what that tasted like," Emerald snarked, prompting Mercury to just grin even wider.

"M'kay," Adam slurred, Emerald's comment having gone completely over his head. "Hey, uh… hey guys? I juss wanna say I'm… sorry for bein' such an asshole to you guys all the time. I'ma asshole. You don't deserve it."

"Yes, you are an asshole, but quite frankly that's part of your charm," Emerald assured him. "Without you all the really stupid idiots would be too brave to try and annoy us with their friendship."

"Really?" Adam looked so grateful to think he was any kind of help. "Are we friends?"

"You know it buddy, best of friends," Mercury agreed. Emerald sighed but nodded all the same.

Trailing behind them, Cinder considered the team mates she'd been put in charge of at the beginning of the year. One was a stoic warrior who couldn't stand to let anyone see his vulnerabilities, another was a cynic who secretly longed for companionship, and the third used flirtation and sex to hide how damaged he was inside.

And while it would be a long time before she admitted it to any of their faces, there was no other team Cinder would rather lead.


	6. The Beginning

**The Prompt –** Jaune catches Cinder off guard and has the chance to kill her, but realizes he's tired of death and can't go through with it.

 **The Characters –** Jaune Arc, Cinder Fall

* * *

He followed her into an office building that had been abandoned years ago. Given that Jaune was never a particularly stealthy individual, it must have been true something was off with Fall as she never noticed him tailing her. Maybe the rumors about her not remembering anything were right?

What he did know was other people were trying to kill her too. One of her old lackeys, Mercury Black, attacked the compound she was being held in, along with other dangerous Huntsmen Jaune didn't recognize. For some reason Emerald Sustrai had been the one to break her out, but she and Fall had been separated in the chaos.

Only Jaune had been able to keep track of Fall. He shouldn't have gone after her alone; he knew she was supposed to be unimaginably strong. He should have flagged down more experienced Huntsmen to aid him.

His grip around Crocea Mors tightened, his nostrils flaring. Jaune could not - would not - let anyone follow him. This was his wrong to right, his battle to finish.

Cinder Fall killed Pyrrha Nikos - the woman he loved.

Jaune would kill Cinder Fall.

He watched her lean against a pillar, fighting to catch her breath. For a woman so highly revered to be dangerous she did not hold herself as such. Jaune likened Fall more to a scared rat trying to scurry off a sinking ship.

Still she forged on, trying to find an exit before anyone else realized where she was hiding. Jaune slinked after her in the shadows as best he could.

He saw the errant power cord laying on the ground before she did. Fall stepped on it, lost her footing, and with a cry she tumbled to the ground.

Jaune was already sprinting the short distance between them before even he realized it. His sneakers cast booming echoes throughout the empty structure, so of course Cinder immediately took notice of his charge of well.

Amnesia or no, Fall did not lack reaction time. Scrabbling backwards on the ground she swung a hand at him, a gout of fire erupting from it. But the effort was sloppy, the slash of flame a pittance compared to what he knew she could create. It was a simple matter of Jaune extending his shield and blocking the attack while he crossed the remaining distance.

With a primal yell he aimed an overhead slash at her. Fall was quick enough to roll out of the way, and his sword made sparks where it impacted the cement floor. Without missing a beat he tried to pummel her with his shield, but Fall was able to get her feet under it and push him away.

Jaune landed on his backside, but instead of striking while he was down Fall took the chance to pick herself up and make a run for it. He was after her again a second later. Fall slammed into a loose door and more or less tripped her way down the stairs. Jaune decided taking the steps normally would take too much time, and instead leaped the whole staircase in one go. He crashed more than landed at the bottom, but once he was up he was on Fall's heels.

As they ran through another grey and featureless floor, Jaune came up with a crazy idea. It went against his training, but she'd beat him in a flat out race. So while he ran Jaune unhooked the shield from his arm, gripped the edge and tossed it at Fall like a discuss.

By some miracle it actually found its mark, striking Fall in the back of her knee and forcing the woman to the ground, groaning in pain as she tumbled end over end.

Jaune slowed as she came to a halt, trying to pick herself up on hands and knees. He ceased the action by delivering a cruel kick to her side, watching with a sneer as Fall sprawled on her back, coughing fitfully. Pyrrha would have hated to see him act so callously.

But she was dead now, because of the woman on the ground before him.

Jaune stepped over the woman and knelt down. Fall tried to push him away, and Jaune responded by delivering a swift strike from his sword's pommel to her face. He heard her gasp of pain along with the cracking of her nose.

That meant her Aura was weak. Good.

Jaune gripped his sword with both hands and raised it high, tip pointed downward, toward her chest. Fall was finally subdued enough she no longer offered resistance, simply looking up at him as she awaited her end.

Her golden eyes met his blue ones, and Jaune paused. He felt no joy doing this; he wasn't sure if he felt anything. All he knew was that he wanted this woman dead.

Fall looked so pitiful. So weak. So sad. He could see the despair and fear in her eyes, swirled around with confusion as to why so many people wanted her dead.

So many voices screamed at him to do it. To end this miserable woman's life. To avenge the woman he loved. He needed to kill Fall. He _wanted_ to kill Fall.

 _But you can't._

That voice sounded like Pyrrha's.

His sword still hung in the air, and even Fall was starting to look at him strangely. It would be so simple to plunge his weapon through her heart. And yet he couldn't. Why couldn't he kill her?

Because Pyrrha wouldn't want him to. Because killing was wrong, no matter who was on the receiving end. Pyrrha knew he was better than this. She was always the one to see the best in him.

His scream of rage and anguish caught them both off guard. It was all he could do. The next moment his sword clattered to the ground and he clambered off of her. Fall didn't move or break eye contact, and neither did Jaune as he collapsed next to her.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't kill her.

* * *

"Can you help me?"

The question took him off guard. In the middle of leaning on his sword like a cane to pick himself up, Jaune turned back to her. Fall still knelt on the ground despite the fact he gave her every opportunity to run. He nose was still bleeding and she was covered in dirt, and yet her golden eyes shone with the barest hints of hope.

"I just tried to kill you," he reminded her, dumbfounded.

"But you didn't. You had the chance and let me live. That's more than I can say for anyone else I've known since I woke up."

"Maybe you deserve it, ever thought of that?" He didn't even try to keep the venom out of his voice. "Maybe you deserve to be dead. Do you have any idea what you've done? Do you have any idea who _I_ am?"

Fall shook her head. "No. Do we know each other?"

"My name is Jaune Arc. My partner's name was Pyrrha Nikos." He stepped up to Fall and got in her face. "And you killed her."

"I... I did?" She looked away, face marring with a distraught frown. "I don't... know what to say. I can't remember. I'm sorry."

"As if that's an excuse," he scoffed, standing straight again. "I don't care if you're an actual amnesiac or not, it doesn't change all the atrocities you've committed."

"But I don't know what I did! Everyone keeps telling me I did all these terrible things and I can't remember any of it." Fall pushed herself up, struggled a moment, and finally stood on wobbly feet. "And now if someone isn't threatening to imprison me, they're trying to kill me! I don't have anyone else who can help me."

"You're right, you don't." Jaune turned from her, picked his shield up off the floor, and began to walk away.

This time Fall was the one hot on his heels. "But you're different! You're not like General Ironwood or that madman with the scorpion tail. I think you can help me!"

"Why would I want to help you?" he asked, stopping and rounding on her. Fall cowered at him, at Jaune Arc of all people. "What possible reason would I have to want to help the person who killed my partner?"

"Because... I, because..." Fall scrunched her eyes shut, and banged her hands against the sides of head hard enough to make him jump. "Because I know things that I can't know, but I don't know things I should know, but I need to know them so I try to remember them but all it does is make me hurt..."

Her fists kept rapping against her skull, and Jaune couldn't stop himself from reaching out and grabbing a hold of her wrists. "Jeeze, just stop! You're rambling like a crazy person!"

"Salem!" she screeched, eyes going wide. Fall went still in his grip and said, "I remember the name, and I remember... darkness, pain, evil. I remember I had someone I looked up to... or I feared them. I don't know because I can't remember."

Jaune knew Fall was a good actor. She and her lackey's spent half the year at Beacon posing as a team from Haven without anyone being the wiser. He had no reason to believe any of the crock she was spewing.

And yet there was a certain logic to her lunacy. Mercury Black, the madman with the scorpion tail, the hulking man in green; they weren't taking orders from Cinder. They were trying to kill her. That meant there was someone else pulling the strings.

And if Fall could remember who that was... maybe Jaune could bring them to justice as well?

"Let's say I believe you," he told her carefully. "What exactly do you get out of this? Because even if we bring in your boss I don't think you can bargain for amnesty for your crimes."

"I think I know that," Cinder agreed solemnly. Jaune loosened his grip, and Fall let her hands fall to her sides. "I don't think I can atone for whatever it is I've done. But I at least want to try and make things right. And I want to remember. Remember why I did such terrible things."

This was such an awful idea. He was baffled he was even considering it. But the conspiracy here was bigger than Cinder Fall alone, no matter how powerful she was. It wouldn't end with her imprisonment or death. If Jaune didn't try to see this through, then it was entirely likely many more people would die.

He wouldn't be able to do it alone though. Not just with Fall at his side. They needed help. Ironwood and any other military or Hunters were right out because they'd just throw both Fall and Arc in jail again. As much as he was loath to put his friends in even more danger, he knew they would help if they believed in his trust of Fall.

"Fuck," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. He eyed Fall askance and said, "You know what this means, right? We'll both have targets on our backs that every Kingdom in the world will be gunning for. We have next to nothing besides the clothes on our backs and the vague feeling you have there's someone else you reported to."

Despite the bleak news Fall's eyes glowed with barely contained hope. "What about a direction then? A place we can start looking?"

"Where's that?"

"The last few years are nothing but a blur but I can still remember my childhood. I remember my home and my family in Mistral. That's the last thing I know of before I completely lost touch with reality."

Well, it was something at least. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this but... come on. People are still looking for you so we don't have much time."

Without wasting any more of it, Jaune began looking for an exit, and Cinder was quick to follow. It was by far the strangest outcome to the day he could have envisioned; joining forces with Pyrrha's killer in order to bring down the powers behind this tragedy.

It grated him to no end, but Jaune felt Pyrrha would have approved, and that made him feel a little bit better.

* * *

 _Author's Note: I feel I should apologize somewhat. Even though this fic was created with the intent of showing off a variety of different stories, thus far pretty much half of them have been focused around the Amnesiac!Cinder AU. It's an idea I've always liked to toy with but never really wanted to sit down and write in full. Although in my defense, the writers and readers of Writing Prompt Wednesday have a habit of voting for new prompts that have to deal with Jaune and Cinder more often than not,so I just take advantage of the opportunities they give me._


	7. Cat, Bull, and Kickboxer

**The Prompt –** Switch around the roles of the heroes and villains for a pivotal scene.

 **That Characters –** Adam Taurus, Blake Belladonna, Mercury Black

* * *

Adam slammed into the cafeteria wall. Hard.

"Your time in Beacon has made you soft," the raven haired cat Faunus snarked, sneering at him as Adam tried to push himself up onto his knees. "To think I actually looked up to you."

"Blake, please," he pleaded. "Just stop this. It's me you want, isn't it? Then just kill me and spare the rest of the school. They don't deserve this."

All around them he could still hear the sounds of battle, a cacophony of weapons fire mixed with howls and slashing claws. The White Fang were in the middle of it all, the organization he once thought to be good and just. Now they were causing the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands.

"Don't they?" Blake asked sarcastically. "Maybe it's Beacon's fault you were seduced to the losing side. Maybe I should be blaming that little team of yours, the bunch of goody two shoes."

"Now you're just toying with me," he scowled.

"You're right, I am." With a speed almost impossible to follow, Blake whipped her katana on its ribbon around her body and slammed it into his face. Just the flat part though, Blake liked to play with her food. Adam still felt something crack in his cheek, and he was sent sprawling back to the ground with a pained gasp.

He only had a moment's reprieve before Blake hooked a foot under his chest, flipping him over without care. She then jammed her heeled boot over his throat, only pressing hard enough to cut off his air, to make him suffer. A quick death would have been too merciful.

Adam stared up at her as he tried to pry her foot off. He looked into the eyes of the girl he once cared about so deeply he considered her like a little sister, and now he saw only cold hatred in those amber depths. He tried to make her see thing rationally, before he left the Fang. To make her understand how far they had strayed from the righteous path. Blake would have none of it though, and she would have killed a train full of innocent workers if he hadn't stopped her.

Now she was here for her revenge, and Adam knew there was nothing her could do to stop her now.

"Hey bitch!"

Blake scowled, displeased to have her moment of justice interrupted, and turned to see who would dare intrude. Adam followed her gaze, and his gut plummeted when he saw Mercury standing in the ruined doorway, matching Blake's glare of hatred.

"Well if it isn't one of your team mates," Blake noted, sounding almost giddy at the prospect. She finally removed her boot from his throat, and Adam had a second to gasp for air before she drove it back into his chest. "Black, isn't it? If you don't mind we're having a moment here."

"The thing about that is I kinda need my buddy in one piece," Mercury shot back. "And I get the impression you're the kind of girl who likes to play rough with her toys."

Blake's grin turned toothy and feral. "Maybe I am. So why don't you run along? You might live longer that way."

Mercury only sighed and dropped into a combat stance. "No way in Hell, kitty cat. I may not be the best at the whole 'Good Guy' thing, but I protect my own. Taurus is coming with me, and you'll be sorry if you get in my way."

"So you want to play the rescuer then?" Blake asked, and from the glint in her eye Adam knew she was leading up to something. "Funny, I'd have thought you'd realize it's a useless goal after that dumb droid got ripped apart on stage."

 _Oh no..._

Mercury's Aura flared, the only outward sign of his rage.

"Merc, don't-" Adam tried to call out, only to wheeze when Blake pressed her heel into his rib cage.

Blake smirked. She had him.

"You're a fucking dead bitch," Mercury seethed. He jumped and kicked, firing off his shotgun grieves and flying at her at speeds most Hunters in training could only dream of. With a primal yell Mercury spun in the air, aiming his leg to kick her head clear off her shoulders.

Blake disappeared before he even made contact. She reformed behind Mercury, her dual blades swinging in a silver arc through the dark, fire tinged night. Adam saw Mercury's eyes widen in dawning as he sailed past the two of them.

Mercury's leg landed in the middle of the cafeteria.

The rest of him landed at the far end.

Adam stared at the severed leg, noticing how it began to smoke. _Oh dear gods... now this is REALLY bad._

Blake chuckled ruthlessly as he tumbled in a heap, turning back with a wide, evil grin. "That had to be one of the dumbest moves I have ever seen. And I personally witnessed Bull-Head over here leave the White-"

With Blake finally off him, Adam took his chance to scoop up his weapon and lunge for Mercury's lifeless form. Ignoring the pain his his limbs, he picked up the now slightly lighter boy and made to bolt for it, only to be repelled by Blake sticking her katana into the wall in front of him.

Blake tutted reproachfully as she sauntered over. "Very gallant, Adam, but even you have to realize this is the end. Your friend got himself killed because of his idiocy, no getting around it."

To her surprise, Adam actually starting laughing, as labored as it was. "You really think Merc's the foolish one? You know there's one thing you never bothered to learn while in the Fang, Blake..."

He jerked his head toward Mercury's fallen limb. "And that's how volatile cybernetics can be."

Confused, Blake turned back to leg. The now white hot glowing leg.

Adam ducked under her katana and launched himself through a window, with just enough time to hear Blake mumble, "Oh."

Then the cafeteria exploded.

Adam and Mercury were launched several meters away by the explosion, tucking and rolling into the dirt as best they could given their wounds. After a minute of getting his senses back in order, Adam limped over to his fallen comrade and picked him up, making sure Mercury was stable on his one remaining leg and Adam's shoulder.

"You know, that really was a stupid fucking idea," Adam told him as they hobbled in the general direction of the safe zone. "You could have gotten us both killed."

"Considering you still sound like a grouch we must still be alive," Mercury joked, his messed up sense of humor still kicking in there. "You think the bitch bought it?"

"Doubtful," Adam sighed. "Blake's resourceful, and stubborn as all Hell. She'll be back, and she won't fall for you rigging your limb to explode again."

"Yeah, whatever. You have shit taste in women, Taurus, I just want you to know that."

Adam just groaned and shifted a little more weight onto his shoulder. Despite the jokes he knew Mercury was hurting, and not because of losing a metal leg. Blake's words still stabbed at him, selected to cause the most emotional pain she could inflict. And the wound was incredibly fresh.

"Listen, Merc, I'm sorry about what happened to Penny-"

"Don't." He huffed with every movement, and to Adam it sounded like he had to choke back a sob. "Just... fucking don't. Not now. Not until this shit show is over with."

Maybe it would be better to table it for now. He didn't know exactly how close Mercury was to the Polendina girl from Atlas, but he could guess the silver haired boy hadn't taken her death well. Adam could only imagine the trail of White Fang bodies leading to the cafeteria. Trying to bring it up now would just cause more problems.

"Let's just get to the safe zone then," he decided. "Hopefully Cinder and Emerald are there. We can come up with some kind of plan then."

Mercury made a sound that vaguely sounded like a yes. Cinder would know what to do, she was always the smart one.

Unbeknownst to them, Cinder and Emerald would currently at the top level of Beacon Tower, fighting a silver eyed girl wielding a bloody scythe. But that's a story for another time.


	8. What's the Difference?

**The Prompt -** Jaune is forced to explain the difference between 'cute' and 'sexy' to Cinder and Ruby.

 **The Characters -** Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie

* * *

"Jaune, do you think Cinder and I are cute or sexy?"

 _Oh gods this is going to be one of those days, isn't it?_

They were all sitting around having breakfast, enjoying the relative peace after their long trek to Mistral, when Ruby approached him with the question. Jaune's initial reaction had been to nearly choke on his cereal, and his brain started to smoke as he tried to come up with anything even resembling a possible answer.

His ire wasn't helped with how Emerald immediately sprang from her seat, roughly grabbing Ren and pulling him up with her. "Hey Ren, remember that thing you wanted to show me? I think we should go see it right now!"

"I, uh, yes! The thing! The very important thing that we should definitely go see right now!" Jaune glared at the man he considered a brother as he all but fled from the dining room. Nora was of course shortly behind, yelling at Emerald about her being a 'man stealing tramp.'

That just left Jaune alone with two women waiting somewhat impatiently for his answer, of which he had absolutely none.

"W-where is this coming from?" he asked instead, mostly to stall for time.

"I was talking with Oscar," Ruby answered. That was the apprentice Qrow had suddenly taken on when they got to Mistral. Jaune always got a funny feeling around the younger boy, and not because of his older brother sense kicking in from how he pined over Ruby. There was something off about him that Jaune couldn't put his finger on.

"Apparently Oscar mentioned offhandedly how 'sexy' he thought I was," Cinder continued. "Then Ruby demanded to know if he thought the same about her, and in his blubbering he called her cute."

"I kinda got mad at him for saying that and scared him away," Ruby admitted, red dusting her cheeks.

"Ruby came to me looking for advice, about the difference between cute and sexy, but…" Cinder squirmed a bit, also starting to blush now. "I don't really know. So I figured you'd probably know best, Jaune."

While he could have thought of several hundred people more qualified than him to help with this, Jaune couldn't fault Cinder's reasoning. In addition to losing most of her memories, a large chunk of her emotional maturity had gone with it. That wasn't to say she acted like a child. Rather, in the thick of fighting and serious discussions, she handled herself as well as any of the rest of them did. But there were the quieter moments, when the threat of Salem felt far away, that her naivety would shine through, and it would sometimes feel like Jaune was talking to someone even younger than Ruby and Oscar.

"Well, I don't see what the problem with being called cute is," he admitted.

It was the wrong thing to say, given how Ruby's cheeks puffed out. "But I don't want to be cute! Yang and Blake would call me cute all the time back at Beacon, and I know they only did that tease me about how much younger I am! But I'm a woman too now, like Cinder, and I want to be called sexy too!"

"I just want to know why I'm sexy and not cute," was Cinder's much calmer answer.

"Ah, well, it's mostly in the eye of the beholder as to how they see a person," he tried. Another miss, as both of the girl's narrowed their eyes at him. "Look, there's nothing better or worse about being called sexy or cute by the people who know you. They're two completely different things."

"How so?" Ruby demanded.

Of course they called him out on that. Jaune scratched his head nervously as he tried to explain his reasoning. "I mean, uh, what I'm trying to say is… just look at Cinder!"

Ruby did so, causing Cinder to squirm even more under the analytical stare. "Cinder's sexy because she's older and has bigger boobs?"

Cinder's face became inflamed, and Jaune leapt to her defense. "That's not what I meant! It's more like… Cinder's mannerisms. Even if she can't remember how she was in Beacon, she still has the muscle memory. Like how she'll jut her hip out or cross her arms under her breasts and push them up when she's waiting for something."

If anything the news only made Cinder's blush worse, and she immediately uncrossed her arms from under her chest and snapped them to her sides. Jaune winced, unsure if he should apologize for saying that, and it felt as though his face might catch on fire by itself if Cinder didn't do it first.

"Being sexy is sort of like an active state, something you intentionally do," he went on explaining, trying to distract himself by sounding informative. "You act sexy around people because you want them to see you, to become aware of the fact you know you're attractive and you want them to find you attractive too. Although in Cinder's case she does it by accident, which is why Oscar noticed it."

They were finally getting somewhere that wouldn't lead to Jaune's demise. Ruby and Cinder were both nodding along as they absorbed his words. "And how is being cute different?" Ruby asked next.

"Being cute is more like you just being… you." Ruby cocked her head quizzically, and Jaune went on, "It's mostly the things you do without even realizing it, like how your eyes light up whenever someone mentions strawberries or how you geek out over weaponry. It's nice and endearing, and there's nothing wrong with it."

"So then… there's no way Oscar could ever see me as anything other than cute?" Ruby actually looked a little downcast at the implication, and despite how weird Jaune felt around the guy, Jaune didn't want to inadvertently kill any chances of romance before it could bloom.

"It's not like a person can only be cute or sexy, like it's an ultimatum," he told her, and already Ruby started to perk up a bit. "Take your new outfit for example; it's a lot sexier than the one you wore back at Beacon."

Jaune prayed Yang wouldn't randomly walk in at that moment. The last thing he needed was for her to hear him talking about how sexy he found Ruby. It was all but guaranteed he wouldn't survive the repercussions.

He turned to Cinder next and said, "And you're plenty cute too. Like when we're sharing stories and even if you don't chime in with anything, you've still got that small smile that says you like listening to us. Or how sometimes you realize you're falling into one of your old mannerisms and you have a mini freak out."

It was actually really helped make the rest of them feel comfortable around her. Even though they knew Cinder had done terrible things, those little quirks helped them realize she was still a person trying to be as normal as they could. It helped Jaune know Cinder was committed to helping them solve the mysteries of her past and attone for what she's done.

Although in this instance it really wasn't helping at all, as neither Jaune nor Cinder could look each other in the eye at the moment. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to confess to someone all the things you found cute or sexy about them.

Ruby, naturally, was oblivious to their turmoil. "So there's a chance Oscar could find me sexy?"

"There's always a chance," Jaune assured her. "But like I said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Not all guys are only attracted to sexy women. Some of us actually prefer girls who are cute."

Ruby's eyes lit up at the possibility, and the air was driven out of Jaune's lungs when she tackled him with a Semblance powered hung. "Thank you so much, Jaune! This helped so much!"

Then she was gone in an instant, rose petal fluttering to the ground after. Probably off to find Oscar and let him know she didn't think ill of him. Better he deal with Ruby's boundless energy than Jaune.

"Heh, that was a thing," he joked to the last person in the room with him.

Cinder didn't answer immediately, looking contemplative. Jaune got the feeling he said too much.

"Jaune, can I ask you one last question?"

"Um, of course you can, Cinder."

"Well, I was just wondering, Jaune…" She stepped closer him, almost close enough to be considered intimate, and Jaune sucked in a breath. He watched helplessly as her hip jutted to the side, and her arms crossed under chest.

Cinder looked up to him, golden eyes smoldering, and all rational thought left his brain.

"Which is it you prefer? Cute… or sexy?"

Jaune made a sound of some kind. It was akin more to a man calling for help while he drowned, but it was a sound nonetheless.

Cinder smirked devilishly. "Actually, don't say anything. I think I have my answer." Then she turned and walked away, backside swinging without abandon. Jaune didn't even try to pretend he didn't watch it the whole way until she was gone.

 _Yeah… it's one of those days._


	9. Sun's Backstory

**The Prompt –** The reason as to why Sun Wukong left Vacuo to study at Haven Academy.

 **The Characters –** Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Team SSSN

* * *

"Oh, I hooked up with a warlord's daughter."

Blake choked on her tea. Judging from the sounds around her, she wasn't the only nearly drowning on their drink.

It was such an innocent question. Blake's pondered it before, wondering why Sun Wukong trained at Haven Academy despite the fact he grew up in Vacuo. But he always seemed so casual about it that Blake never felt the need to truly delve into the story. She simply assumed it was something that would come up in conversation at one point or another.

That point finally came to bear the day before the Vytal Festival Tournament began. Team RWBY had met up at one of the carnival stands to share a round of fizzy drinks with SSSN and JNPR. Weiss had been the one to ask, probably because she felt a certain kinship in how they had both left their homelands to study elsewhere.

Well, she got her answer alright.

All as one the eight heads of RWBY and JNPR turned to stare wide eyed at Sun, who was innocently sipping at his drink. Neptune, Sage and Scarlet suddenly all found their menus extremely interesting.

"W-what?" Blake sputtered.

"Hmm?" Sun turned to her, and only then did he notice the weird looks the two teams were giving him. "What, have none of you guys heard this story yet?"

They all shook their heads.

"Oh. Well, long story short, I met this girl while walking the streets, she took me back to her place and-" Sun noticed how Yang slammed her hands over Ruby's ears and wisely chose to censor his story. "-we fooled around for a bit. Then her dad barged in all red in the face and foaming at the mouth. Started screaming about how if any of his men ever found me he'd... well, let's just say he wouldn't have been kind to my tail." He waggled it for extra effect, shooting them a lopsided grin.

"So... you fled the country to avoid being tortured by a madman," Ren deduced slowly. "And the only thing he had against you was deflowering his daughter."

Sun only scoffed. "Please, that flower had been plucked long before I showed up."

"Wait, flowers?" Ruby asked in a high pitched tone, Yang's hands still firmly clamped over her ears. "Why are we talking about flowers now?"

"Were you going to mention at any point you're a wanted man?" Blake whispered heatedly to Sun.

"The guy's only a bigshot in certain parts of Vacuo," Sun waved off her concerns. "For all he knows I could be dead in an unmarked grave somewhere."

"So... how did you do it?" Jaune tentatively asked.

"I just stowed away on a ship and got off on the first port it stopped at. That was a town outside of Mystral, and since I was there I figured becoming a Huntsman could be fun."

"No, I mean... the girl. How did you do it?"

This time it was Sun's turn to give a blonde a strange look. "Look, bud, I don't know if this is the best place to talk about my moves..."

"What? No!" Jaune panicked, waving his hands about. "I mean how did you go from meeting a girl in an alley to, you know, in her bed?"

Blake groaned and buried her head in her hands. This was so not the kind of conversation she wanted to be privy to. Idly she could feel all the nearby metal, like spoons and whatnot, start to thrum in a mixture of scandalous appall and sinful curiosity.

"I don't know," Sun shrugged. "I thought she was cute, she thought I was cute, one thing led to another. It just happened."

"But why!?" Jaune wailed. "I think plenty of girls are cute and I can't so much as get a smile back!" Jaune failed to notice Pyrrha shaking his arm, smiling like a desperate teeth whitening billboard.

"What can I say man, you either have it or you don't." Sun leaned back, hands behind his head and a smile that could melt a girl's knees on his face. "But I can share a few tips if that's what you're after."

Jaune ripped out a pen and notebook from his pocket while Pyrrha looked on forlornly. Ren, Nora, and Weiss were simply shaking their heads at his ineptitude. Meanwhile Yang, who still hadn't released Ruby, leaned over her younger sister's head to whisper to Blake.

"Are you sure this is the kind of guy you want to go steady with?"

"I really don't know," Blake moaned.

"But I don't wanna to go study!" Ruby yelled.


	10. A not so much Needed Talk

RWBY is owned and operated by Roosterteeth.

 **The Prompt –** Yang needs someone to talk to, who isn't Blake, about her feelings for Blake. Bonus points if it's Yang's mom, Raven.

 **The Characters –** Yang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen

* * *

"Hey Mom."

"SWEET GODS ABOVE HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY TENT?!"

"Plot."

"What does that- oh, it's one of *those* scenes, isn't it? A little snippet of our lives written by an isolationist nerd so he can coax his internet 'friends' into giving him meaningless points so he can try to abate his lack of self-confidence."

"That about sums it up, yeah."

"Ugh, fine. So, tell me what brings you here, oh three limbed, abandoned, disappointment of a daughter of mine."

"Nice to see you too, mom. Anyways, the reason why I'm here is because I need someone to talk to about my feelings for Blake."

"And why do you have to talk with _me_ about it?"

"The author gets bonus points if it's you."

"I'm honestly a little ashamed I didn't see that answer coming. Out with it then, what are your feelings for your little cat waifu? The sooner we get through this we sooner I can get back to stepping on your friends."

"What was that last part?"

"Nothing."

"Riiiiiight. Well, Blake was the closest friend I ever made. I care about her a lot, and it really hurt when she ran after the fall of Beacon. I'm angry with her, sure, but more than anything else I'm worried about her, and I just want to know she's safe."

"Belladonna's fine. She's met up with her family in her home country, and she even has the monkey boy trailing after her."

"Really? That's great! Wait, how did you know all that?"

"I see many things while in pursuit of my cigarettes."

"It's kinda creepy."

"I can predict the future and tear open inter-dimensional portals. You really think I was gonna have a normal functioning brain?"

"I guess not. Still, I'm glad Blake's okay. I hope I get to see again sometime soon. Heh, I'll probably break down crying, stuck between trying to tear her a new one and hugging her to death."

"I would expect nothing else from a melodramatic teen with PTSD. So what else are you going to get up to after you've said your piece?"

"Find the rest of our team, stop Cinder, save the world! Maybe meet a cute boy along the way~."

"Yes that all sounds very- wait wait wait back the fuck up. What's this about meeting boys?"

"Look, Raven, I appreciate the help, but I think you're about eighteen years too late to start caring about which boys I date."

"Not that you boob! I thought you came here to talk about your feelings for Belladonna."

"And we did. I don't see what the problem is."

"Don't see the- I thought by feelings you meant you were in love with the cat girl!"

"What? No! Blake's my best friend, not my lover. Besides, I'm as straight as a ruler, and Blake has Sun to be all Kuudere with."

"Then what was the point of this conversation?!"

"Because that's what the prompt asked for! Feelings can be more than sappy romance."

"No, wait, I see what's going on here. The author's being a self-righteous little shit, thinking he's taking a stand against rampant shipping. I bet his head's so far up his own ass, he's written out the entire conversation dialogue only, in some inane attempt to be artsy. And he's filled it with meta jokes and references to try and distract the readers."

"That seems a little harsh."

"We're talking about _Anime_ fans, Yang. There is no greater scum of the planet."

"Okay, you know what, Raven? I think I'm gonna take a play out of your book, leave to go get some cigarettes, and then never come back. Bye forever, you crazy bitch."

…

…

"I raised her so well."


	11. A Dead Man's Request

**The Prompt –** Ozpin tries to nudge Oscar into a relationship.

 **The Characters –** Spooky ghost man Ozpin, Oscar Pine.

* * *

 _Oscar, I have something of an odd request for you._

"Huh?" Oscar said aloud. He knew he didn't have to speak out loud for Ozpin to hear him, but talking to the voice inside your head was already weird enough as is without doing it completely inside your own head.

Oscar sat on the edge of a wall, peering down into the park it encompassed, watching the others as they ran through drills and maneuvers. Since they were waiting for Professor Lionheart to get back to them about the plan to recapture the Spring Maiden, Oscar and his new compatriots had ample spare time to kill. Thus today had been allocated as a training day.

Being Mr. Branwen's "apprentice" meant Qrow handled Oscar's training personally, and only a couple days of working out with the older man made Oscar want to curl up into a ball die. Qrow lacked any kind of compassion when came to people who weren't his nieces, and he pushed Oscar far more than any of the others. He only got breaks like this when Qrow felt he was starting to tread too far on the side of sober and went off for a drink.

"Aren't you kind of already asking me to save the world?" Oscar asked the man living inside of him.

 _Unfortunately the world can never be truly saved. Even if we destroy Salem and her allies for all time, the Grimm will still be a threat, and new villains will simply rise up in her place. No, the best we can do is ensure continued survival and peace, which brings us to my dilemma._

"Does it have anything to do with fiery lady suffering from amnesia?" Oscar guessed. _That_ had given Ozpin a surprise to find out. Apparently Fall lost most of her memories shortly after killing Ozpin, and his students trusted both her and Emerald Sustrai enough to aid them in deciphering Fall's past. "You think Cinder might turn on us?"

 _I wouldn't discount the theory, but that's not what has me worried. Rather, it is her bond, so to speak, with Mr. Arc._

Oscar glanced over at them, in the process of sword training. It didn't take a genius to see Cinder gravitated toward the blonde a lot. Oscar didn't think they were dating or anything like that, but they were close, for whatever reason.

"Is that bad?"

 _Yes and no. No because Mr. Arc having influence over Fall aids us in keeping her on our side of the conflict. But yes because it presents an obstacle to certain plans I had set in motion._

"Plans like what?"

 _As I said, ensuring continued survival and peace. Did you know Mr. Arc forged his transcripts, same as Miss Fall and Miss Sustrai?_

He felt like he knew that, but only now because Ozpin had inserted the memory into his mind. Oscar didn't immediately know everything Ozpin did, and they both suspected that might drive him mad, so Ozpin fed him memories piece mail.

 _It was a last minute decision to approve his forgeries, based mostly on another last minute decision._

"Ruby Rose," Oscar filled in. He saw her training in one of Emerald's illusions. "Why? Is Jaune important to Ruby's abilities?"

 _Him specifically, no. But there was a certain aspect to his family lineage that I had been keeping track of for quite some time, and I felt I could put it to good use._

Ozpin sighed, a completely useless gesture since he was only abstract consciousness, and already Oscar was getting a bad feeling.

 _To put it simply, men in the Arc line tend to have over tens times the level of virility over normal men._

"Okay..." Oscar hedged. "And how is that useful?"

 _...There are not many Silver Warriors in the world, Oscar, and Miss Rose is a healthy young woman._

It took Oscar all of a second to fill in the blanks.

"You're trying to breed your students?!"

 _Come now, Oscar, you make them sound like cattle._

"You're the one treating them like it!"

 _Do keep you voice down, Mr. Ren is starting to eye you suspiciously. But yes, the truth is I intended to push Miss Rose and Mr. Arc toward one another in the hopes they'd form a lasting relationship that would yield children with silver eyes. They got along famously since the first day they met at initiation, but from there any possible romances continued to be waylaid by outside forces. I'd have thought the tragic events that transpired might help to push them together, but Miss Fall has become another such obstacle._

"Do you really think there's any way of salvaging the situation?" Oscar desperately hoped the man said no.

 _That is where you come in, Oscar._ Damnit all. _With Mr. Arc distracted by Cinder, he will likely never view another woman in a romantic light. Which means Ruby Rose is without a possible suitor, and we are without a guarantee of a new generation of protectors._

Oscar nodded slowly as he came to terms with the news. Without Jaune, then Ruby would need someone else to be by her side. But did he think he could be that man? Ruby was a talented Huntress, technologically gifted, and really cute. Like, reeeeeeeally cute. Oscar didn't think much of himself, but Ruby had always been quick with reassuring words or pats on the back. She liked him, to some extent, and Oscar couldn't deny how that sent butterflies flitting through his stomach.

"I think I understand," Oscar whispered. "And I'll do it."

 _Excellent. I will aid you in seducing Cinder Fall however I can._

"I mean if it's for the greater wait wait WAIT WHAT?"

 _We need those Silver Warriors, Oscar, and as many of them as possible. With Mr. Arc and Miss Rose together, that possibility is all the more likely._

"But the guy's clearly in love with Cinder!"

 _As if love is important in relationships. This may seem callous, but I only urge it because of the greater good for all. Besides, you could do far worse than Miss Fall. Quite the excellent birthing hips on that one._

"Ozpin, you... you're not doing this just so you can revenge bang the chick who murdered you, right?"

...

"Oh dear god."


	12. Unintended Consequences

**The Prompt -** Turns out 'Maidens' is more than just artistic license, and Qrow is tasked with sinking teenage relationships. To save the world. Naturally, things don't go as planned.

 **The Characters -** Headmaster Opzin, Qrow Branwen.

* * *

Qrow has known Ozpin for a long time now; he's seen the man run a gambit of different emotions. Happiness, depression, even the occasional bout of drunken humor.

But walking into the man's office, Qrow has never seen him look this positively _pissed_ before.

"Please sit, Mr. Branwen." Clipped sentences, no pleasantries before business, and the use of his last name? Qrow knew he was in deep shit. The fact Ozpin's strange coffee blend was nowhere in sight was worrisome enough by itself.

Qrow sat in the proffered seat, more than a little afraid manacles would immediately clamp around his arms and legs. Only after a few moments of nothing happening while he sat tensely did Qrow relax, trying to inject some of usual swagger into the conversation. "You wanted to see me, boss?"

Ozpin's glasses flashed dangerously. "I've made a terrible mistake, Qrow, and it all started with your little idea."

"My idea?" Qrow asked, pointing at himself. "I don't remember making up the rules where Maidens have to live up to the name."

"No, but it was your idea to ensure our candidates live up to the name. It was the whole reason we hired you for this year at Beacon teaching weapon maintenance. And from what I've seen you've spent much more time chasing potential suitors away from your nieces more than anyone else."

"Hey, I do my job regardless of who the kids are. Besides, no skin off my bones catching boys with their girlfriends in janitor closets and scaring the living daylights out of them."

"Scaring a few teenagers out of their make out sessions does not deal with the larger problem," Ozpin chastised. "And now your presence has only exacerbated the issue even further." He then withdrew his Scroll and swiped to a page before passing it over to Qrow. "Tell me what you see here."

"It's a list of names." Many of them he recognized because they were students of his, though mostly from the younger years where he spent more time teaching. A few dozen in total, Qrow saw there were names from all four class years currently at Beacon. There wasn't much to link them all together aside from the obvious fact they were all female names.

"So are these girls all potential candidates or something?" Qrow asked, going to drake a drought from his flask.

"Fra from it," Ozpin answered, his voice as cold as ice. "These are all my students who are now pregnant."

Alcohol spewed out from Qrow's mouth in all directions, most of it landing on his shirt. "What?!"

"Pregnant, Qrow, as in they are with child."

"I can read a bloody a dictionary!" Qrow sped through all the names again, just to make sure Ruby and Yang weren't on it. Thankfully the both of them and their partners were safe, it seemed. "How did this happen?"

"Yes, I wonder how," Ozpin drawled, leaning back in his seat with a sneer. "I mean it wouldn't make sense for so many girls and boys to suddenly throw themselves into the act of carnal release in such high numbers within a short period of time. Maybe it would during times of great stress and peril, but Beacon is a safe environment. It's not as if the students live in constant fear their weapons blowing off their hands when they malfunction, or Grimm attacks that seemingly come out of nowhere, or falling ceiling fixtures cracking their heads open."

"Hey, I apologized to that girl after the chandelier almost fell on her," Qrow defended. "So what, you're saying my Semblance is to blame? I only cause bad luck, Oz, I don't force people to obsess over their mortality and all the things they haven't done yet."

"Does the phrase, 'You don't want to die a virgin, do you?' mean nothing to you, Qrow? These are hormonally charged children who are far more susceptible to poor decision making than we give them credit for."

"So then we weeded out all the short sighted idiots," Qrow deflected with a wave of his hand. "Better still if they can't even remember to tell their boyfriends to pull out."

"But therein lies the bigger problem you've heaped upon me, Branwen," the headmaster growled. "Do you know how many of them swear up and down they were taking contraceptives at the time? How many of them swear their partners used protection? How many of them claimed _both_ facts?"

Qrow's gut plummeted as he started to catch on, as he glanced away while coughing nervously. "I don't know, like five or six of-"

"All of them, Qrow! _All. Of. Them_."

"…or all of them," Qrow muttered weakly. Despite having the ability for most of his life, Qrow never really knew just how far reaching his Semblance could be. Maybe it would have been prudent to test that a little more before taking the job.

"So where does this leave us with the Maiden candidates?" Qrow asked, trying to shift the focus off himself.

"With decidedly few options," Ozpin sighed. "At current time all we have left are a girl beholden to her evil megacorporation of a family, a former terrorist Faunus, a girl with all the mental stability of an electrically charged hyena, and Pyrrha Nikos. I trust you see the only viable option we have left?"

Qrow nodded, unsurprised by the reveal that Nikos was still untainted. There was a reason most of the student body said Jaune Arc was 'dense enough to have his own gravitational pull.'

"I'll start shifting my focus on Nikos a bit more," Qrow assured his superior. Her weapon was almost as bad as Ruby's with all the different parts it had, so Nikos spent a lot more time than others in his cla-

"You most certainly will not," Ozpin argued. "Do you know how much an in-school daycare costs, Qrow? I can't just let all these girls miss out on their education because of someone else's bad influence. That means we have to make certain cut backs to ensure we do not go over budget."

"Woah, Oz, let's not decide things too hastily!" Qrow tried.

The headmaster ignored him completely, standing up with sigh. "Mr. Branwen, normally I would say I make this decision with a heavy heart, but in this instance I well and truly do not. You're fired."

"Damn. Do I at least get to keep-"

"You do not get to keep your pension."

"You're really twisting the knife, aren't ya?"


	13. A Gift for Cinder

**The Prompt -** Doesn't matter what the context is, you just have to include the infamous Pyrrha Plushie in some way.

 **The Characters -** Amnesiac Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai

* * *

Emerald Sustrai liked to consider herself to be a dangerous woman. She could rob anyone blind and make them thank her for doing it. She could go toe to toe with just about any Huntsman or Huntress in a fight. And it took no great effort for her to blend herself seamlessly into a group and stay hidden among them, stealing their secrets while she pretended to be their friend.

The only person capable of bringing Emerald to heel was Cinder Fall, the woman who saved her from destitution. She was bar none the strongest woman Emerald has ever known, even before she had the Maiden powers, with a powerfully intelligent mind to back up the brawn.

Or at least she used to be. Emerald didn't think she could ever imagine the old Cinder Fall willingly walking into a toy store and perusing through their dolls.

"What about this one, young miss?" the elderly shop keeping asked, offering Cinder a stuffed sheep with fluffy wool. The woman took it in her hands, softly testing the material while giving it a blank stare.

"It's very soft," Cinder said, like it was a bad thing. Emerald's eye twitched and she resisted the urge to sigh for the umpteenth time.

They've been in this store for over half an hour now, with Cinder looking through all the toys and finding them all to be lacking in some way. The old Cinder would have sooner burned the entire place to the ground, but this Cinder – the one with amnesia – didn't have a bad bone in her body. Neither would the old Cinder have confessed to anyone, much less Emerald, that she used to sleep with a doll in order to keep away nightmares in her youth.

Since their journey with the remnants of Teams RWBY and JNPR began Cinder's nightmares have been an infrequent but constant plague on Cinder's sleep, which usually meant Emerald wouldn't be getting a lot of sleep on those nights either. Things had gotten better when she started opening up to Arc, but Emerald felt it was high time they start to seriously deal with the problem. So the moment they got to Mistral Emerald decided the should visit a toy store and have Cinder pick out something she liked.

If Emerald knew it was going to be this difficult she'd have just given Cinder a ball of animal fur to sleep with.

"Sorry, not this one either," Cinder decided, handing it back to the man. Considering she and Emerald were two of the most wanted people on Remnant right now, Emerald wouldn't have normally risked letting civilians see them out and about. It helped that the store keep thought he was talking to a blonde with green eyes and a brunette with blue eyes.

The man gave them a strained smile and placed the sheep back on the shelf. "Well, that's just about all the stock we have on display. If you want I can try looking for something in the back? But I need a better idea of what it is you're looking for."

Cinder looked away, face drawn with deep thought. Emerald took a step toward her and said, "Like I told you, it's okay to get whatever you want. Even if it's something a little weird."

"I know, it's just…" Cinder nibbled on her lower lip as she thought it over, and after a few dreadfully long moments she finally looked back to the man and asked, "Do you have anything… uglier?"

"Uglier?" both Emerald and the shop keep said in surprise.

Cinder gestured to the dolls they'd been through and said, "These are all nice, but they don't feel right. They're too immaculate, too well made. The doll I had when I was a girl, I made myself. Her hair was made of old mop strings and her clothes were bags that were meant to be thrown out. I knew she was ugly, but she was mine, and she made me feel safe."

Emerald didn't have an immediate response to that. New amnesiac Cinder has been a lot more open about her past before meeting Salem than Old Cinder ever was. Her step mother and step sisters treated her like a slave, and Cinder was forced to make do with whatever scraps they gave her. Considering Cinder's penchant for crafting her own clothes it didn't surprise Emerald to think she'd made her own toys as well.

While Emerald had no idea of how to go about finding a purposefully ugly doll, the shop keep was cupping his chin and had a thoughtful look in his eye. "Actually, I think I might have something up your alley. Some old stock that never sold well and I haven't had the time to get rid of. Why don't you girls wait here a moment?"

They both nodded and let him go, after which they found a spot along the far wall to stay out of other peoples' way. Most of those other people being parents and their young kids. You know, the kind of people you'd actually expect to find in a toy store, and not a couple of young adult women.

Cinder had on a worrisome frown. "This is embarrassing for you, isn't it? Having to buy a doll for a grown woman?"

"I don't feel bad about it at all," Emerald assured her. "Besides, given what happened you would technically be considered to be pretty young now too, mental health wise."

"It's just burdensome," Cinder confessed. "Walking around in an adult's body that doesn't feel like it belongs to you. The stares never help either."

"Well screw them. The only person you should worry about is yourself and those who have something to give to you. That's what you always used to tell me."

"I did? Was this before the, uh, incident?" Emerald nodded in confirmation, and Cinder hummed in thought.

A minute passed in silence as they waited. Then Cinder asked, "Do you miss her? The old me, I mean."

Emerald's eyes narrowed, her only reaction since she'd seen the question coming. "This might sound weird, but I kinda do, actually. The old you, she was the first person in years to look at me like a person and not a piece of trash. She gave me a purpose, and even if was just an act she made me feel wanted."

Emerald sighed, leaning her head against the wall. "Still doesn't change the fact the old you was a bitch, though. She liked to get physical when I made her mad, and I knew there was always the threat that if I stepped too far out of line she'd just do away with me altogether. She was a tough woman to work for, and now that she's gone I realize I don't miss her all that much. Certainly not as much as I would miss you, anyway."

Cinder flushed at the kind words, another thing Old Cinder would have never done. "For what it's worth, I like spending time with you too, Emerald. And I'm sorry if she – if I – ever did anything to hurt you. I wouldn't do that to my friends."

Friends. Those were almost nonexistent in the line of work they used to lead. For a long time Emerald had only ever known assholes she tried to avoid dealing with, assholes she was forced to work with, and people Emerald convinced she was their friend in order to sneak into their social groups. Never any real friends. The closest she'd come was with Cinder, the old one, and that was a stretch at best.

Not like what they had now. Instead of Cinder holding all the cards, she was the one constantly looking to Emerald for aid. Now Cinder was nothing but words of kindness and gratitude, and despite knowing she'd done terrible things to the others, Jaune most of all, Cinder still did her best to treat them like her friends, and they reciprocated in kind.

In turn it made Emerald realize she didn't all that much mind hanging out with the people she once considered to be a bunch of idiots. It made her realize she liked having friends too.

Emerald lightly touched Cinder's shoulder, giving the woman a kind smile. "I know you wouldn't, not anymore anyway. You're my friend too, Cinder."

Cinder gave her a grateful look in return, clasping Emerald's hand in her own. Then she glanced over Emerald's shoulder, and if she wasn't smiling before then her face was positively lit up now. Emerald glanced around to see the shop keep coming toward them, and when Emerald saw what he had in his hands her gut plummeted.

 _Oh no. Anything but that._

To call it a doll would be an insult to toys everywhere. The neck was as thick as its arms and legs, and those appendages had more in common with steel pipes than limbs. The clothes it wore were splotches of color clumsily sewn onto the body. The hair hung like a dead rabbit, its mouth was fixed in a permanent smile of sheer emptiness, and its eyes, two green dots, were so off kilter the doll looked more like a frog than a human.

The shop keep stopped before them, holding up the abomination and giving them a cautiously optimistic smile. "Maybe this could better suit your needs?"

Emerald had to fight the urge to vomit just looking at this thing. "I'm not sure if-"

"I love it!" Cinder snatched the doll out of his hands, looking at it with unbridled joy. True to her word Cinder found the most enjoyment out of the ugliest toy they had. She didn't even realize it was supposed to be modeled after Pyrrha Nikos, the woman she herself had killed. Not that Emerald could blame her, it would have been difficult for anyone to recognize a human face from this monstrosity.

Still, Cinder loved it and Emerald wasn't about to go raining on her parade, so she turned to the man and said, "We'll take it."

 _Arc is so going to kill me._


	14. Relationship Troubles

**The Prompt -** A portrayal of a romantic couple in the show, but with the roles reverses (Weiss being into Jaune, etc).

 **The Characters -** Adam Taurus, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose.

* * *

As it turned out, it was pitifully easy to disarm an opponent when the only weapon they had was a school lunch tray. Adam barely wasted any energy catching the serving tool with the flat of his blade and flicking it out of the Atlesian student's hands, swiftly following up the move by jabbing his sword handle into the boy's nose. Something cracked, a testament to how these children weren't truly ready to become Hunters, and he fell backward, clutching his face in pain.

Adam watched the boy squirm on the floor, completely defenseless. It would be easy to dispatch him now, but then again it was easy to kill a baby as well. No challenge, no honor.

"Grimm are swarming the school grounds," Adam informed him, and the boy fought through his pain to give the Faunus a bewildered look. "Start running now and you might avoid getting eaten by one."

The boy hesitated a second, probably thinking Adam was just messing with him. But then he must have decided dying while running was preferable to being on the ground, as a moment later he was up and bolting out of the cafeteria.

Adam took his time following after the boy, sheathing his weapon methodically. The building was on fire and starting to crumble, but he knew he was no immediate danger of the cafeteria collapsing on him. Looking out the shattered windows, Adam saw much of Beacon was in the same state. Grimm were running amok of the school grounds, and his own men were in the fray as well, though they were merely biding their time until Adam gave the call to fall back. Which he desperately hoped came sooner rather than later. He had no idea what that strange Fall woman was doing while all this destruction was occurring, but he knew it wasn't anything good.

"Adam!"

His attention was stolen from its reverie, and Adam looked back to the entrance, finding two women standing there. The first was a blonde he only vaguely knew about from cursory reports. The second was far more familiar to him, with her midnight black hair and glowing amber eyes.

He really wasn't looking forward to this reunion.

"Hello, Blake," he sighed. "I figured I'd be running into you tonight."

"This is your old partner?" the blonde asked. Yang Xiao Long, if he remembered the name correctly.

"He is. Why have you come here, Adam?"

"I would think the reason for that is patently clear," he pointed out, gesturing to what was happening to most of the school.

"So what, you only came here to raze a Hunter school to the ground? Is that your only reason?"

"Well, not my only reason," Adam allowed. Blake sucked in a quick breath, trying to predict what she hoped he'd say next. "I'm also here to support the allies who helped make this possible."

Blake's shoulders slumped as she deflated. Yang took the lead and said, "Launching an all-out attack on a school full of kids and tourists is pretty messed up."

"So is systematically repressing an entire race of people, but if we stand here arguing semantics the building would collapse long before we finished," Adam argued. "Look, I'd actually really prefer if this attack came to an end soon, so how about we just go our separate ways and attend to our own problems?"

Yang gave him a confused look, but Blake stepped forward to challenge him. "You've already come all this way just to find me, Adam. I can't let you leave now."

"Correction: I came here under orders that had absolutely nothing to do with you."

"How can you-" Blake cut herself off, nostrils flaring and that vein her recognized starting to pulse on her forehead. Blake gestured to the destruction outside and said, "Is this really the kind of path you wanted for the Faunus, Adam?"

"As I recall you really didn't care what path the Faunus went down so long as you and I were walking it together," Adam reminded her.

"I only want what's best for everyone," Blake denied. "Even you, Adam. It's not too late to turn back."

"He kinda just burned down our school," Yang pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you right there, Blake," said Adam, holding out his hand palm open toward her. "I know how you want this encounter to go, but it's never going to happen, because the truth is, Blake…"

Adam crossed his arms and breathed deeply, preparing himself for what he had to say.

"I will never take you back as my girlfriend."

Yang scoffed at him. "How much of an egotistical-"

"But I'm still willing to take you back, Adam!"

"Wait wha-"

"Surely you must remember how good we were together," Blake pressed, ignoring her current partner's stupefied look. "I can help you, Adam. I can lead you back to the path of righteousness."

"You remember how good we were together?" Adam asked with a crooked brow they couldn't see behind his mask. "That's funny, because how I remember it is you ruining all my meetings by trying to sit in my lap, causing bodily harm to any woman who so much as glanced at me, and texting me nonstop when I'm on a mission, even when we're on the same mission. You haven't even stopped texting me since you left, even though I've been ignoring them all!"

"This is who you've been texting all the time?" Yang realized. "I thought it was because Sun wouldn't leave you alone."

"That's right, Sun!" Blake remembered. "I have a new boyfriend, Adam! And he's crazy about me! Doesn't that make you feel so jealous?"

"I have no idea who that is and I don't care," he informed her blandly. "Though I do feel sorry for the poor sod."

Blake growled in desperation. "Then forget Sun! Everyone knows you and I perfect together! Surely it must have broken your heart when I left the White Fang?"

"Are you kidding me? These past few months have been some of the best of my life! Dealing with you disrupting our operations just to get back at me has been a bit of a head ache, sure, but that is far form the worst thing I feared you'd do."

"Just to get back at you…" Yang muttered, going pale as realization dawned upon her. "Blake, you didn't leave the White Fang just because Adam broke up with you, did you?"

"No," Blake denied a little too quickly.

"Let me put it in perspective," Adam suggested. "Blake left the Fang literally the day after I broke up with her."

"Oh my god, Blake…"

"I was distraught after having my heart shattered into a thousand pieces!" Blake claimed. "Besides, any good boyfriend would have come after me and tried to make me see reason."

"I was too busy counting my lucky stars." He turned to Yang and said, "You know we found Blake's 'secret diary' outside her tent after she left? She wrote entrees dating back months about how in love we were, but most of the words had been so hastily written the night before they were smudged almost beyond recognition."

Blake let out an overly scandalized gasp. "You found my diary? I thought I destroyed it!"

"You left a few matches to fizzle out on top of the book's cover. You might have caused more damage if you took a hair dryer to it. Besides, the whole bit at the end about 'I'll have to destroy this book so Adam doesn't find it and realize what a massive mistake he's made' kinda clued me in."

"But… but…" Blake was twitching now, her rather small well of patience going dry. "But we can still be together, Adam! It doesn't matter where we are or what we doing, so long as it's us and only us. *Please.*"

Adam sighed again. "How about this, Blake: Would you join the White Fang again and turn against your team mates if I took you back?"

Yang laughed nervously. "Blake wouldn't do that, we're her best friends! Right, Blake?"

The cat Faunus was dead silent.

"Blake…"

"Hold on I'm thinking."

"Blake!"

"This is why I can't date her!" Adam exclaimed, throwing his hands to the air. "She's even crazier than Cinder Fall."

Blake's eyes narrowed. "Cinder Fall? The exchange student from Mistral? Black hair, golden eyes, killer body?"

"That's the one," Adam confirmed warily.

"Aha!" Blake yelled like she'd made some grand discovery. "So that's why you've been stolen away from me! Some hussy copied my looks and used them to ensnare you like the vile seductress she is!"

"Seriously?" Yang wondered aloud, looking at her partner like she was truly seeing her for the first time.

"Come on, Yang, we have a man stealing skank to go deal with," Blake announced, turning and marching out of the cafeteria. "Adam, you wait here and I'll come back to claim you once the succubus' spell has been lifted."

"Suuuure," Adam allowed, taking whatever opening he could get. Yang gave him one last forlorn look before rushing after Blake, too stunned to think of anything else to do. The moment they were gone Adam sprinted out of the other end of the cafeteria and pulled out his Scroll.

"Men, we've done everything we can here. Now it's time to pull out and never, ever come back. I have a feeling more than one of our problems is going to be solved tonight."

* * *

 _Sometime later..._

"Where's everybody else?" Ruby asked her friends once she was close enough. She'd made it to the evacuation center, but only Weiss was there to greet her. She also saw Sun and his team, along with Ren and Nora, but their two team mates were missing as well.

"They haven't come back yet," Weiss told her. "Blake went after an Alpha Beowolf and Yang followed after her, but I haven't seen them since."

"Pyrrha and Jaune are still missing too!" Nora added. She tried to stand but quickly buckled, clutching at her side.

Ruby couldn't say she was in much better condition, but Sun's arm was already in a sling and Ren looked down for the count. That meant she and Weiss were the only two still capable of fighting, and Ruby would never leave a friend or sister behind.

"I'll find them," she vowed. "I'll bring them back."

"Ruby, don't be crazy," Sun argued. "The evac ships have gotten nearly everyone else out, and it's too dangerous to go back in there. We just have to have faith they're strong enough to make it through and **JESUS H. CHRIST BLAKE!** "

Sun had been gesturing toward the burning wreckage of Beacon when he caught sight of something so horrific it made him utter the name of a deity that didn't exist in their world. The rest all turned to see what he saw, and the sight made Ruby's heart simultaneously leap with joy and shrivel with revulsion.

First she saw Yang and Pyrrha. The champion was favoring her one leg and needed to lean on Yang on order to walk, but the both of them looked to be alright, though they both had haunted looks on their faces. Leading them was Blake, walking tall with a satisfied grin on her face and looking no worse for wear.

And in her hand hung the severed head of Cinder Fall.

Weiss and Nora both promptly fainted while Sun became intimately familiar with the lunch he had today. Ruby might have followed suit if she hadn't already tossed out her stomach while mid-air pogo hopping for dear life a few minutes ago. Instead all she could do was stare in slack jawed horror as her sister and two friends approached.

"Hey guys," Blake greeted cheerily, uncaring of the fact she was covered in splotches of blood. "Anyone seen a bull Faunus named Adam Taurus?"

"Blake…" Ruby whimpered. "What did you do?"

"I taught a lesson to gold digging hoe-bags everywhere."


	15. Date Night

**The Prompt** \- Jaune and Cinder go on a date, with the Amnesiac!Cinder spin on things.

 **The Characters** \- Jaune, Cinder, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ren, Nora, Oscar and Emerald.

* * *

"Just keep your eyes closed a little bit longer," Jaune instructed the woman he was leading along by the hand.

"Jaune, you know I don't like being kept in the dark," Cinder reminded him, only a slight edge to her voice. She knew Jaune would never steer her wrong, but having to keep her hand over her eyes was still strange enough to warrant her worry.

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Cinder heard a door slide open, and as Jaune helped her through Cinder caught a whiff of something delicious. Instead of taking her hand again, she felt Jaune's hands on her waist to angle her into the proper position. Even though his touch was feather light it still sent bolts of lightning racing up and down her spine.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now," Jaune whispered, his wonderful touch disappearing. Cinder did so, and the sight that befell her made her gasp in surprise. Jaune had brought them to the upper outdoor patio of the house they and their friends were currently staying at. Nighttime had long since fallen, but the candles placed along the railings and the table in the center provided more than enough illumination. Also on that table were two dinner ensembles, cooked pheasant with greens on the side, and even a bottle of Champaign chilling in an ice bucket.

"What is all this?" she asked, astonished.

"This is a meal for two," Jaune answered, stepping up in front of her. In a gentlemanly fashion he placed one hand behind his back and presented the other to her, palm open. "Cinder Fall, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me?"

Now it all made sense, why he asked her to come with him but didn't give her any details. He'd even gone and put on a passably nice button up shirt instead of his hoodie for the occasion.

It brought a smile to Cinder's lips, and she wasted no time accepting his hand. "I would love to."

Grinning ear to ear now, Jaune lead her to the table and pulled out her chair for her. Once Cinder was seated he took his own seat and began to pour out glasses for them both. Jaune and Cinder clinked their glasses, and wasted no further time digging into their meals.

Only after a few bites of her pheasant – which was as delicious as it smelled – did Cinder ask, "So what's the occasion?"

"Mostly just because," Jaune shrugged. "We've been running around so much, everyone deserves a little rest and relaxation. All of us have been through a lot the last few months, and you in particular more so, so I thought you deserved something a little special."

Cinder blushed the faintest amount. "That's very kind, Jaune, thank you. Though I think you are the one more deserving of a reprieve."

She didn't fail to notice how Jaune's shoulders went stiff. "I wasn't the one who almost died, Cinder."

"No, but you were the one who was almost forced to become a killer." Jaune didn't have a response to that and grew quiet, and Cinder cursed herself for mucking up the romantic atmosphere. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, it's alright," Jaune cut her off. He placed his utensils aside and said, "I want to you to know I don't regret what I did, Cinder, and that's because you were the one to ask me to do it. You know I'd do anything for you."

"I know." Cinder reached across the table and took his hand, the both of them sharing sad smiles. "I hated having to ask of you to do such a terrible thing, and I hope to never do it again. You mean so much to me, Jaune."

"You mean a lot to me too, Cinder," he returned without any doubt. His fingers massaged her knuckles, and Cinder wouldn't have minded staying in the warm embrace all night.

The realization made his eyes go wide and he started to trip over his words, so Cinder took pity on him and removed her hand, returning to her meal. Behind a coy smile she hid just heavily she was breathing from the simple touch.

"So, uh, how are you feeling?" Jaune asked her. "Now that the Maiden's powers are gone, I mean."

"I feel… lighter, if that makes sense. I don't know how better to say it. The powers were like any weapon, with a weight to them, and now that they're gone I just feel… freer."

"But you're okay?" Jaune fretted, his eyes crinkling in that cute way when he was worried. "There haven't been any complication or-"

"Jaune," she sighed, cutting him off. "I told you, I'm fine. Aside from my fire abilities no longer being as potent, everything else is normal, as it was before. It's still me, I'm still here, and I don't plan on going anywhere."

"I know," he relented with a tired smile. "I've always known you're fine, but I like hearing you say it. Makes it feel more real to me. And I'm glad you're still here. Nothing else makes me happier."

"Jaune Arc, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were flirting with me," Cinder said with mock scandal.

"Really, you think 'Jaune' and 'flirt' could go in the same sentence without the word 'can't' in between them?" Jaune said with a laugh.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, Jaune. You've successfully asked me out on a date, haven't you?"

Jaune went red in the face. "You think this is date?" Then he realized what he said and went even redder. "I-I-I mean of course you can think it's a d-date! I mean, uh, I didn't want to impose the idea, because dinner with friends is fine, but if you want to c-c-call it a date then I don't mind-"

"Jaune," she said. Jaune snapped his mouth shut, and Cinder gave him a patient smile. "I do consider this a date, and I'm glad we're doing it. Naturally a first kiss should be followed by a first date, correct?"

Jaune scratched the side of his head, a nervous tick of his. "Yeah, I guess that makes…" Then he thought about it for a moment, putting together what she said. "Wait… our first kiss?"

"Of course, in the bunker. I tasted lemon on my lips after I woke up, and I know how much you love your lemon lip balm."

"B-but that was CPR!" he argued. "I was doing it to save your life, not to take advantage of you!"

She crooked an eyebrow at him. "So you're saying you've never want to kiss me?"

"Wha- no! I mean yes! I mean no? I mean, I want to, but that wasn't- I didn't do it-" He finally noticed the way Cinder was smirking at him and sagged a bit in his seat. "And you know I'm shit at talking to pretty girls. That's not fair."

Cinder chuckled into the back of her hand. "I'm sorry, Jaune, but you're too adorable like this to resist the occasional teasing."

Jaune rolled his eyes and chose to ignore the remark. Cinder took a moment to get her jollies under control, at which point she rose from her seat. Jaune looked confused to see this. "Cinder?"

The look she gave him was new, dark and wanting, trailing her hand along the table as she strutted around it. Jaune watched her every movement, his Adam's Apple bobbing in anticipation. When she reached him, Cinder turned and lowered herself onto his lap, sitting on him sideways. A bead of sweat trailed down his brow, and she heard him swallow his desire.

"Though if you truly believe we haven't had our first kiss," Cinder whispered, "there are ways we can rectify that."

Cinder's hand caressed his cheek, and she breathed in sharply when she felt his hands curl around her waist. Cinder lowered her face toward him, Jaune angled his upward, and their lips met somewhere in between.

A squeal of joy from the nearby bushes was quickly muffled and followed with a series of angry 'Shhhhh's.

* * *

 _Meanwhile..._

"Be quiet you dolt!" Wiess hissed at her partner, hand clamped over Ruby's mouth. "You don't want to let them know we're spying on them!"

"I don't think Jaune and Cinder could notice much of anything at the moment," Ren pointed out. At his words Nora, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Emerald and Oscar all turned back to the patio to find Cinder was fully straddling Jaune's lap now, and the pair were doing their best to suck out each other's internal organs.

"Way to go Vomit Boy," Yang muttered in awe. "Still feels kinda weird he chose the perfect spot to spy on though."

"Actually that was intentional," Ren informed her. "I helped him with the cooking, Nora is always by my side, and she talks to Ruby all the time, so naturally from there any hopes of keeping this secret were nil." Ruby squawked in indignation from behind Weiss' hand. "So he chose a spot that would make it easier for all of us to watch."

"Considering how paranoid and intrusive we are, that was actually pretty thoughtful of him," said Emerald.

"I'm not paranoid," Blake immediately argued.

Cinder broke away from Jaune's face long enough to bark out a laugh before going back at him.

Since it was clear they weren't as subtle as they thought they were, Weiss removed her hand from Ruby's mouth after the girl started swatting it away. "I think it's really sweet, seeing the two of them together," Ruby said with a smile. "It shows how far they've come in helping each other grow."

"Yes, it's great how Arc managed to heal Fall with his magic penis," Weiss drawled. "Chalk up another one for feminism."

"I thought Ruby healed Cinder with her Silver Eyes?" Oscar asked. "I mean it's such an amazing power, we shouldn't discount how much of a help Ruby was too."

Ruby blushed at the praise, not that Oscar could see it as Yang forcibly placed herself between the two younger teenagers. What he didn't miss, even if Yang wasn't looking directly at him, was the red tint in her eyes.

 _You should really try being less direct_ , Ozpin chastised him. _Although I'm fairly certain it's still not too late to go ahead with my pla_ -

"Shut up," Oscar pleaded.

Yang rounded on him. "What was that?"

"Uuuuuuhh j-just Ozpin saying he's glad to see one of his students so happy!" Oscar blathered.

"So you're not _jealous_ that Cindy's making out with my leader and not you, right Emmy?" Nora teased.

Emerald scoffed. "I'm happy for Cinder no matter who she dates. I don't know why you people are so convinced I'm in lov- OW!" Emerald clutched her eye after something pinged off it. "What the hell was that?"

Ren fished it off the ground. "It would appear to be a shirt button."

Jostling caught their attention, and they all looked back to see the table had been cleared of food and extinguished candles. Now the only adornment was Cinder, flat on her back with her legs wrapped around Jaune's waist. They saw his shirt had been torn open, and he was making quick work of Cinder's red dress.

"I-I think we should go," Yang panicked. There was a general chorus of agreement, and most of the peeping toms scrambled to get out of there before they saw things that would scar them for life. Most, anyway.

"Blake, stop writing Jaune and Cinder into your smutty book!" Yang snapped at her partner.

"I'm not," Blake denied. It did nothing to hide how her ears were twitching a mile a minute, and she didn't even have to look down at her notebook while she jotted down notes.

"Blake, stop perving on the blonde haired, blue eyed goofball while he goes it with an ebony haired seductress with golden- oh I get it now."


	16. When Mercury's Away

**The Prompt** \- What the rest of Mercury's "team" get up to when he's not around.

 **The Characters** \- Mercury, Cinder, Emerald and Neo.

* * *

Mercury whistled a jaunty tune to himself as he traversed the halls of the transfer student dorms. He was in a rather good mood, all things considered. The detention he'd been prepared to suffer through after classes today had been cut short by almost hour, since Team RWBY were doing their usual thing and causing trouble for the school, and of course Professor Goodwitch had to be the one to go rein them in. On the one hand it denied Mercury the chance to side eye one of the hottest teachers he's ever met in his life, but on the other he didn't have to slog through schoolwork he didn't care about, so overall a net positive.

It was with this upbeat attitude Mercury approached the door to the dorm room he shared with his "team mates". Like always he didn't bother to knock and simply swiped his scroll to let himself in. The girls knew no one besides him would do that, and it wasn't like they were dumb enough to leave anything incriminating out in the open.

"Hey, got out of detention early so I figured-"

Mercury stopped dead in his tracks.

Whatever conversation his three female team mates were having similarly ground to a halt, all of them turning to stare back at him. Cinder stood in front of the white board usually reserved for their evil plans with laser pointer in hand. Emerald and Neo – in her gothic Lolita disguise, just in case – both sat on their beds with clip boards in their laps. It wasn't an unusual scene; they'd had plenty of meetings like this before in order to discuss their plans.

What did make it unusual, however, was the fact all the usual schematics of Beacon and pictures of people who could be considered dangerous were gone from the board. In their place were dozens of pictures of men. More specifically, guys Mercury knew were also currently at Beacon. They were arranged by team, home school and year. A lot of them Mercury didn't immediately recognize, mostly because they weren't important enough to remember, but quite a few of them he knew readily.

Team JNPR was toward the center of the board, probably because of their close relationship with Team RWBY. The blonde guy, Jaune Arc, had a whole bunch of Question Marks around his face. Meanwhile his team mate Lie Ren was surrounded by Exclamation Points and what looked like kiss marks made of lipstick.

Next to them were the two guys on Team CFVY. Yatsuhashi Daichi only had a short sentence written below his picture, reading, "Too big?" Fox Alistair had gotten a number of buzz words written around him, like 'Edgy' and 'Mysterious.'

Team SSSN had possibly the largest photos and all four of them were littered with hearts. The only deviation was Scarlet David, who also had a number of Question Marks that had later been scribbled over.

Not all of them had been drawn on so favorably. Team CRDL hadn't even had their entire team name written before being crossed with a mark like a great red gash. They all had X's drawn over their eyes and words like 'Eww' drawn on their foreheads.

Most of the pictures around the edges were guys Mercury wasn't as familiar with, reflected by the girls' appraisals as they had relatively few marks in comparison to the guys toward the middle. The only outlier was Nadir Sheko from Team ARBN, who had a large number of contradictory marks like the drawers couldn't make up their minds.

However, none of those pictures and their comments were what truly made Mercury's heart stand still. For smack dab in the center of it all sat his own picture, with several large red circles drawn around him.

Like a deer in headlights Mercury just stood there, hand on the door and face blanker than the essay that had landed him in detention. For over a full minute no one moved or said anything. Emerald was the only one who looked surprised and worried at his presence, starting to break into a cold sweat. Cinder merely looked at him with her usual level of indifference, seemingly uncaring that he's seen what he's seen. Neo had a small smirk, practically begging him to ask what was going on.

Faced with his three equally dangerous and unlikable team mates, and the activities they apparently got up to when they thought he would be away, Mercury did the only thing he knew he could do.

He quietly closed the door, walked away, and didn't return for several hours. No one said a thing after he came back, choosing to talk about mundane topics like what assholes the teachers were or who the next Maiden could be. Despite the images now burned into his brain, Mercury chose to let the sleeping dog lie.

Because really, what good could come from asking his team mates what the board titled ' _Future Pleasure Slaves_ ' was all about?


	17. Mirrorverse

**The fic ended being a fusion of two prompts:**

 **The First** – On their way to Mistral, RNJR and Qrow somehow pass over into an alternate reality.

 **The Second** – "She's right in front of you, Jaune. Take the vengeance you rightfully deserve."

 **The Characters** – Jaune x2, Ren x2, Nora x2, Ruby x2, Qrow x2, Oscar, and Cinder Fall?

* * *

Consciousness was slow to come back to Jaune and there was a pounding in his skull, which were indicators enough to tell him he hadn't gone to sleep willingly. With the speed of tectonic plates his eyelids peeled open, though his vision still swam and he had to blink a few times for things to come back into focus. Jaune didn't recognize the place he found himself in, but there were walls and a ceiling, and from the softness on his back he deduced he was in someone's bedroom.

As energy came back to him Jaune tried to remember what happened. Traveling through a ruined town, attacked by the madman with the scorpion tail, the sudden arrival of Ruby's uncle Qrow, and then… the Nuckelavee. The giant Grimm fused of an imp and a horse, suddenly appearing the middle of town almost out of thin air. Jaune must have been up for a while after getting the blow to his head because he remembered constantly seeing two of everyone.

Things weren't adding up, like multiple events in his head playing out at the same time. Jaune couldn't make sense of it. He must have still been too dazed from his injury. For now that wasn't his biggest concern. That was figuring out where he was and how he'd come to be here. More awake now, Jaune craned his head against his pillow to better see the room.

Definitely someone's living abode, judging from the small shelf filled with books and the nightstand and dresser off to one side. A single window let warm sunlight stream into the room.

Cinder Fall leaned against the sill.

Jaune sucked in a breath at the sight of her. It was Cinder Fall, no doubt about it. The woman he's been searching for. The woman who orchestrated The Fall of Beacon. The woman who killed his closest friend, Pyrrha Nikos.

Something was off about her, though. She didn't quite match up with the image he had of her back from Beacon. While the dress she wore was still crimson red, it was long sleeved, had violet accents and was much more conservative than what he'd seen her wear in combat class. Fall wore fitted black leggings and heeled dark violet combat boots. In her hands she held what looked to be a bow comprised of dual blades, and Jaune could see a quiver strapped to her back.

But probably the most distinctive difference was the fact her ebony hair had been replaced with bright golden locks.

At the sound of Jaune stirring Cinder Fall turned her attention away from the view outside, and she broke into a smile when she saw him. "Jaune, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"What…" was all he was able to compose at the moment. He's been preparing for this moment for months and now that it's upon him Jaune has no idea what to do, struggling to decide which of the many questions floating around his head to ask first. "You… where…"

"You were knocked out, some falling debris I think," Fall answered first. She shook her head with a grimace. "Things were getting too chaotic, and I decided it was smarter to drag you to safety. Thankfully I found this farm, owned by the Pine family, and the nephew gave us his room for you."

"You… saved me?" What was she playing at? Did Fall mean she was saving him for something she had planned? Was it the same for Ruby and his team mates, and then the thought of them made his eyes widen as he started to imagine the worst. "My friends?"

"I'm sorry, I was so busy protecting you I didn't have the chance to help them. But Ren and Nora are strong, and with Mr. Branwen there I'm sure they should have at least been able to drive off the Nuckelavee and the strange Faunus man. Ms. Pine has already contacted a neighbor of theirs to head to the old town and lead them back to us."

Protecting him, helping the others, sending out a search party. Something was very, very wrong with this situation. Cinder Fall was an evil woman and it was his mission to end her. She should have hated him just as much as he hated her, but she treated him like a friend and her appearance had changed too drastically. Had she died her hair blonde to avoid attention?

"This isn't right," Jaune said aloud, trying to pick himself up off the bed.

Fall placed her weapon aside and made to move toward him. "Jaune, you really shouldn't-"

"Stay back!" They both flinched, Fall stopping in her tracks and Jaune jerking away from her. Sunlight reflected off of something white in the corner of his eye, and Jaune saw his sword leaning against the bed. Had Fall left it there by mistake or on purpose, maybe to toy with him? Jaune didn't have time to mull over the answer, instead choosing to snatch the weapon and pull the sword free from its sheath. He pointed the blade at Fall, too dazed to notice it wasn't actually _his_ sword.

Fall's eyes widened and raised her hands to head level, appearing non-threatening. "Jaune…"

"Ju-just stay back!" he commanded again, the adrenaline now helping him to stand. "I don't know what sick game you're playing, but I won't fall for it! Not after everything you did!"

"Jaune, you're suffering from head trauma right now," Fall told him in a calm, measured tone. "It's me, Cinder, remember? The girl you wrote that awful song for, to ask me to the dance?"

"Don't try to put memories in my head!" he snapped, to which Fall only replied with a confused look. He'd done that for Weiss, Jaune remembered, and the embarrassment for it he felt after the fact wouldn't let him forget it. Jaune had only ever spared a few passing words for Fall.

With her back to the window, Fall missed the flash of red streaking in the distance. But Jaune recognized the telltale blur of Ruby's Semblance as she raced through the air. Despite how weird Fall was acting Jaune knew he couldn't take her one on one, especially in the state he was now. But with Ruby then they at least had the advantage of numbers.

Jaune staggered to the door, keeping his weapon on Cinder. "Jaune, you really shouldn't be up and moving right now!" Fall tried to stop him.

He ignored her, moving through the door and almost tripping on the steps immediately before him. As Jaune neared the landing he saw a younger boy he didn't recognize appear at the bottom. He had green and brown eyes and wore clothing befitting of a farmer.

"I heard yelling, is everything-"

"We have to go," Jaune told him, grabbing hold of the bewildered boy's arm. He had no idea the kind of danger they were in.

"What? Uh, Jaune, right? Is something wrong?"

"Something wrong!" Jaune sputtered, making a beeline for what appeared to be a front door. He heard Fall calling his name and racing down the stairs after them. "Do you have any idea who that woman is? It's Cinder Fall!"

"Fall?" the boy asked. "I thought she said her name was-"

Jaune didn't give him time to finish his thought, bursting through the door to the outside. He focused first on putting distance between the house and himself, frantically looking around for his friend. "Ruby!"

"Jaune! What are you doing?!" Fall was hot on his trail, weapon in her hands as she raced out of the house.

A gunshot cracked through the still air. Fall barely had time to react before her bow was snapped out of her hands, left to clutch at her hands out of pain. She looked up and her face went white, and Jaune followed her gaze to a barn a short distance away. There in its shadow was his friend and savior, Ruby Rose, partially concealed by the shade with the smoking barrel of Crescent Rose trained on Fall.

The boy blanched at the sight of her. "That's…"

"Ruby," Jaune sighed in relief. "It's good to see you."

"Nice to see you too, Jaune," Ruby said to him, an uncharacteristic smugness in her voice Jaune wasn't used to hearing. "I've got you covered. This is our best chance to take out Cinder."

Jaune turned back to the woman, finding her jaw agape as she constantly looked between him and Ruby. Jaune pushed the other boy away and readied his weapon, saying, "You'd better get back. Fall can cause a lot of damage when she puts up a fight."

"Jaune, please, you have to listen to me," Fall whimpered to him. "I don't know what she's done, but you're confused. I'm your friend, Cinder, it's me."

"You've done nothing but hurt my friends!" he snapped back. "I remember it all clearly. You ruined my life and took away the life of someone I care about. I won't spare you for that."

"Pyrrha? I know you haven't forgiven me yet, but Emerald and I did our best to save Pyrrha from that mad woman. We weren't the ones who killed her!"

"She's lying to you, Jaune," Ruby told him. "Cinder will say anything to weasel out of the fate she deserves. She's right in front of you, Jaune. Take the vengeance you rightfully deserve."

Vengeance? That wasn't a word Jaune would normally associate with Ruby Rose, always the one to preach about justice and rightfulness. Jaune glanced at her, seeing Ruby was still staring intently at Fall. She was kinda hard to make out standing in the shadows but those silver eyes were always easy to see, even in the dark.

Something was off about them though. Ruby's silver eyes usually shone with some inner spark, like actual jewelry. The ones Jaune could see now were flat and cold with intensity, like steel.

Jaune shook off the ill feeling and refocused his attention on Fall. It was just another one of her tricks to make him doubt his friends. But no more. Like Ruby said, this was his one chance to make everything right. Before he made his move Jaune wanted to make sure he could output as much damage as possible, so he re-sheathed his sword and thumbed the switch to activate the new weapon formed he'd had installed.

Crocea Mors' blade buried itself into the dirt.

The action made him jump because that wasn't what was supposed to happen. His shield was supposed to extend blades at the sides in order to become a heavier great sword. Instead the original blade of Crocea Mors emerged from the bottom, and the shield extended into something resembling a staff. A cross guard formed at the point where the sword met the shield/staff, and after it finished transforming Jaune saw he was wielding some sort of spear or lance.

 _This is not my sword._

The realization brought to a head everything else that's been appearing wrong to Jaune since waking up. He looked to Cinder again, seeing the myriad of emotion running through her golden eyes. Confusion and fear and hope, but no hate or disdain.

 _This is not the Cinder Fall I know._

He looked to Ruby. That gaze of cold steel stared back at him.

 _Those are not Ruby's eyes…_ And Jaune finally put the pieces together.

"You're not the Ruby Rose I know."

For a moment that lasted an eternity everything was still and silent as the four people stared at each other. Only the soft hissing of wind indicated the passage of time.

Then the girl with Ruby's face sighed. "More's the pity."

Crescent Rose trained on Jaune.

Another gunshot rang through the air, but this time the boom was muffled by distance. The Ruby imposter had enough reaction time to duck out of the way, just before a sniper bullet shattered the wooden wall she'd been standing in front of.

A cacophony of angry cawing sounded next, and Jaune glanced upward to see two crows racing toward the ground. The he blinked and they were gone, the man he knew to be Qrow Branwen appearing in their place, sailing through the air with his weapon raised high. The song of metal on metal ranged out as his sword clanged against the fully extended scythe of the girl with Ruby's face.

The ensuing fight was fast and frenetic, Jaune could barely keep track. To his eyes it looked as though Qrow was moving so fast there were practically two of him attacking the strange girl.

She blocked one sword and ducked under another, ready to deliver a brutal attack in the opening, but then she was forced to dodge backward as an arrow sailed through the air. Jaune heard Fall curse and the twang of a bow string snapping as it launched another projectile. This arrow too failed to hit the girl but she was forced to block it with her scythe blade, and then Qrow attacked again to force her out of the barn's shadow and into the light.

To Jaune it looked like Ruby Rose, but he knew now she was not. Those cold steel eyes were sunken in and her mouth looked like it was incapable of smiling. She wore something akin to a midnight black dress and her red hood was far more tattered than the Ruby he knew would ever let it become. Even the weapon Crescent Rose boasted a serrated blade meant to cause more carnage.

The combatants finally paused to catch their breaths. Only then did Jaune realized his addled brain hadn't led him to believe he was seeing an afterimage of Mr. Branwen; there actually _was_ two of him. They both looked much the same, though Jaune noted one of them had an eye patch over his left eye.

"You fools can never let a girl have her fun," the false Ruby spat at them. In the next second her Semblance activated, a swirling of what looked like drops of blood instead of rose petals, and she launched straight up into the air. She hung there for a moment before a thunderclap ripped through the air, and then she was racing off at speeds Jaune didn't think Ruby should have been capable of.

Only when it was clear the vile girl was retreating did everyone else relax, even Jaune despite not having actually took part in the battle. He was still too busy reeling from all that he's seen in a few short minutes.

"Are you all okay?" one of the Qrows asked them.

"I am fine, just a little shaken," Cinder answered. The farm boy said something to the same effect. Cinder turned to Jaune and said, "Though I'm not certain if Jaune is alright."

"I don't know," he said truthfully. He looked down at the weapon in his limp hands. It looked so much like his own and yet it wasn't. "I don't know what's going on."

"I'd be surprise if you did," Qrow – the one with the eye patch – said. "I'm guessing you didn't have the time to talk through things like we did on the way here."

Stampeding feet caught their attention, and to Jaune's relief he found Ruby, Ren, and Nora coming toward them. Then to his utter shock they were being followed by _Ren, Nora_ and _himself._

The three 'new' people looked similar to what Jaune was already familiar with, but with minor difference, like how the two Qrows were. The other Ren had shorter hair and the tips were frosted pink instead of the single lock. The other Nora still wore the large aqua ribbon her recognized from initiation. And then the other him wore a hoodie dark navy blue in color instead of black, an easy mistake to make in the thick of a crisis.

"I think I've got your sword," Jaune told the other him.

"And I think I got yours," he replied. Okay, watching someone who looked like you speak with your voice was definitely weird, Jaune decided. He had a feeling the other Jaune had quickly come to the same conclusion.

"I think we all have a lot of questions," the blonde Cinder deduced. "But I would like to clarify one thing first…"

She turned to the black hoodie Jaune and said, "My name isn't Fall. It's Cinder Regalia."


	18. Cross Over

**The Prompt -** Ruby crosses over into another fictional universe.

The Characters will be listed at the end with more details and descriptions.

 **ReWBY: Creators**

* * *

The door to the office creaked open, prompting the man sitting at the table to raise his head out of his hands and see who had come to greet him.

"Another late night?" Gray Haddock asked his friend. He jostled the bag of take out from (Insert name of local Austin, Texas restaurant the people at Rooster Teeth enjoy) in his hands to show why he was here.

Miles Luna smiled upon seeing both him and the food, as his stomach quickly indicated he'd been brainstorming for several hours now without break. "Thanks, man. Yeah I've just been going over our plans for RWBY."

"I can see that," Gray nodded. Scattered across the table, walls and white boards were covered by the collection of notes, outlines and concept art Miles and Kerry have continued to expand upon since their first few days coming up with the new ideas with their dear friend Monty Oum. A small TV to the side even played episodes from Volume 5 on mute.

Miles pulled out a chair for Gray, which he took as he began to pass out food for them both. "Any headway?"

"Not much, just trying to figure out how to improve on the Volume 5 situation without actually going back and retconning anything."

"Beyond what we've already retconned," Gray said with a smirk.

Miles only sighed. "Don't even joke about that. Enough people are already on our cases because they think we keep changing the rules about Aura and stuff like that. I mean we did, but it's not like we went back and changed the very essence of the entire-"

"Who's that?" Gray suddenly interrupted. Miles saw he was now fixedly watching the TV screen, currently playing the first episode of the battle at Haven Academy, which Miles could admit didn't turn out as well as they wanted.

"That's Ruby of course…" Miles answered, though he trailed off at the end as the confusion Gray felt started to sink in for him as well. For some reason Ruby was the only one moving and talking while everyone else appeared to be frozen mid combat.

That was strange. Had he accidentally set up some kind of test rendering to play instead of the episode?

"I know that's Ruby, I meant- yes, her!" Gray pointed to the TV screen. "Is she some new character?"

Miles only shook his head, having never seen the girl before in his or his friends' notes. She had a passing resemblance to Weiss with the white hair, but hers was much larger in volume and had blue highlights in it. Her eyes were a combination of red and blue, and the pupils were square in shape. She wore some kind of military uniform that was red, black, and grey in coloring, complete with a tall and pointy hat. The girl wielded a sub machine gun like it was a violin pressed under her chin, and she used a short saber as the bow in order to play it. Dozens of copies of that sword swirled around her as she floated in the air. On the TV she was the only character active with Ruby, silently talking to the girl because they were still muted.

"I have no idea," Miles admitted. "Pause it when there's a close up so we can get a better look. Maybe one of the animators did up a quick animation to go with their fanfiction?" Gray grabbed the remote and only had to wait a moment before the camera was close enough to the girl.

He hit the pause button. Nothing happened, and the girl continued to talk down to Ruby.

"What the hell?" Gray muttered to himself, futilely pressing the button over and over again with no effect. "Maybe the remote's batteries are dead?" He hit the mute button to test the theory, but then the audio blared to life.

"-ver wondered why all this has happened to you?" the strange new girl asked, her voice rather deep for what appeared to only be a young teenager. "Why it is you exist in a world where the people live in constant terror of the creatures outside their walls, and where your friends and family have been so cruelly taken from you?"

"I… I don't know," Ruby answered. "I want to make things better, to make them right, but I don't know how." Gray and Miles could only watch in stunned silence. When had Lindsay taken the time to record these lines?

"Then why not take the opportunity to speak to the Gods directly?" the Military Uniform Princess prompted, raising her arms grandiosely. "Demand to know why they have forsaken you, and make them reshape your world into something better."

"I wouldn't even know the first thing about trying to meet with the Brothers my uncle told me about," Ruby confessed.

The Military Uniform Princess chuckled darkly. "Oh, I wasn't talking about those two gods. I meant…"

She slowly turned and looked into the camera, and a chill ran down Miles' spine as she stared directly into his eyes.

" _Those_ two gods."

The Military Uniform Princess brandished her saber and slid it down the submachine gun, somehow creating a musical note so loud Miles and Gray were forced to cover their ears from the intensity of it. The sound then increased in volume and ferocity, and Miles looked up only to scream in shock as he saw the ceiling and roof of their building crumble into pieces and fly upward in all directions.

And there she was. The Military Uniform Princess floating in the air above, in what looked to be flesh and blood, no longer two dimensional. She smirked cruelly down at them, and it was a horrifying realization for Miles to know she could turn her swords and magic on them if she so chose, and they would feel the full effect because she was just as real as he and Gray were.

As the music and began to die down the neighing of a horse drew their attention next. Miles and Gray saw what appeared to be a woman in white and gold knight's armor riding horseback, and somehow they too were flying alongside the Military Uniform Princess. In her arms she held the now very real Ruby Rose, who was slumped over like she was unconscious. The knight with long blonde hair only spared them a brief glance before riding off into the sky.

"If you are not cowards, come to the land known to you as Japan," the Military Uniform Princess called to the two men. "It is there where you can watch your very own Creation bring about the destruction of your world." A moment later she was gone, flying after her compatriot, leaving Miles and Gray to wallow in stunned silence.

After a very long silence, Miles finally asked, "What the fuck just happened?"

"I have no idea," Gray answered truthfully.

The phone in Miles' pocket started buzzing, and he pulled it out to find his friends and family already bombarding him with calls and messages, most of them probably singing to the tune of 'Did our building just blow up? Is our stuff okay? Are you okay?'

"This is really bad," Miles panicked. "I mean we have to call the cops! Or the army! Or something! Jesus Christ we'll have to condemn the whole building! We have to leave before it collapses-"

"Hold on there!"

He heard Gray scream in fright, and Miles whirled around to see he was struggling with the hand clutching his leg. The hand which was coming _out of the TV_ that had been knocked to the floor.

"Why does it have to get weirder?!" Gray screeched, hopping and trying to kick the hand away.

Miles rushed to his side and grabbed hold of his friend, pulling him away from the apparition in the TV. It only followed after them, more and more of its owner coming through the screen while they complained about the tight fit.

His foot caught on something and Miles was too mentally off kilter to catch himself, so he succumbed to gravity and fell backward, dragging Gray down with him. By chain reaction that also dragged their new associate even further, and with an audible pop they finally escaped the confines of the electrical device and flopped onto the floor with the two human men.

Sprawled out on the floor, Miles and Gray could only watch in stunned surprise as the newcomer picked themselves up. He tried to pat down a white coat now marred beyond hope by burn marks and dried black blood, and fished a slightly torn up bowler hat off the ground to place it back on his mop of orange hair.

"So," the man began casually, pulling out a cigar and lighting it. "Who wants to explain why I got eaten by a Grimm and crushed under an Atlas ship?"

* * *

"But I am real."

Standing a few feet away from them, Sota Mizushino saw the middle aged man do a double take at the woman's words. But then Takashi Matsubara, the writer of Elemental Symphony of Vogelchevalier, began to laugh, because why would he believe the woman in front of him when she said she was actually Selesia Upiteria, the female lead from his story?

Of course Sota knew full well the red headed woman in medieval fantasy clothing was speaking the truth. He'd been sucked into her world just the other day, then pulled her back into his own world, and then watched her use arcane powers to face off against that strange Military Uniform Princess who'd been trying to recruit her. Sota still didn't know how or why any of this was happening, but since Selesia and the other Creation he's met thus far had nowhere else to go besides his house, he felt the need to help them make contact with their Creators. Which was why they'd lured Mr. Matsubara to this public building in downtown Tokyo, so Selesia could meet with him.

Unfortunately things weren't going quite so well, given the way Selesia glared at her creator while he laughed. "Yeah really!" he guffawed. "I mean you look like the real thing-"

His words trailed off when Selesia drew her sword hilt and a blade magically estended out of it, hovering the pointed tip just below his nose. "I don't look like the real thing," she contested, "I _am_ the real thing, Mr. Matsubara."

Her glare increased. "No… Mr. Creator."

"H-hold on!" the sixteen year old Sota panicked, quickly stepping between the author and Selesia. He understood why she might be so bent out of shape over this, but it wasn't right to up and threaten someone with a magical sword in public!

"She's real," their third companion answered calmly, coming over to stand at Selesia's side. Her name was Meteora Osterreich, and she was one of the most well-known NPC's from the Avalken RPG. She was a short woman with even shorter snow white hair and pale blue eyes, and she wore blue and green robes. Like Selesia she too could use magic, but was able to manipulate it to a much greater degree thanks to her book of spells and magical glyphs.

Privately Sota had always thoughts she looked a lot like that Weiss Schnee girl from the American show RWBY. The game and the show had come out around the same time so he didn't think anyone had ripped off the character design from anyone else, merely came up with similar ideas at the same time.

"This is not Halloween or a cosplay event," Meteora continued.

"H-hey, who are you guys?!" Mr. Matsubara panicked, still stuck between not believing their story but fully believing Selesia was willing to gut him.

Before Selesia could do anything to escalate the situation further, their attention was distracted when several children milling around the floor started yelling.

"Look mom, it's really her!"

"Can you do it, Ruby?"

"Yeah, that thing with your eyes! All silver and sparkly!"

"Show me, show me!" Sota, Mr. Matsubara, Selesia and Meteora all looked over to see the children had all begun fawning over a teenage girl in the center of their group.

She chuckled nervously, looking between them all. "I guess everyone here knows who I am! That's totally not weird. Not weird at all…"

 _Speaketh the devil's name_. It really was her, Ruby Rose, from the show he'd just been thinking about. It looked like she was wearing her Volume 4 outfit, complete with the red and black corset and the long red hood she got from the fairy tale she was based on. She even had the sterling silver eyes.

"It's Grimm Slayer Ruby Rose," Sota whispered in awe. He turned to his friend. "Meteora, she's another-"

"Oh, there you are!" Ruby suddenly yelled, pointing at Sota's group. She carefully extricated herself from the group of children and bounced over to them, smiling broadly. "I've been looking all over for you! Let's see, what was it, um, Sally? Cilica? Celeste-"

"Are you trying to greet us?" Selesia interrupted, unimpressed with having her name butchered so. "I can't believe you came without remembering our names."

"Eh?" Ruby stilled. She tried to laugh it off with a nervous grin. Ruby then turned to Meteora and said, "Uh, you there, Discount-Weiss, I'm sorry I forgot your names but I just got in from a really long flight and the Princess and the knight lady had some important stuff to go do so they asked me to come find you and I haven't really had a chance to get my bearings yet and I'm rambling again…"

"Wait, are you saying you know the Military Uniform Princess?" Sota asked her.

"Oh right!" Ruby remembered. She pointed to the two other Creations and said, "I came here because I was supposed to convince you guys to join the good guy side!"

"Convince us?" Selesia wondered.

"Yes! My name is Ruby Rose, and I'm a Huntress. I've sworn to stop those who attacked my school and my friends, and bring them to justice."

"Hold on!" Mr. Matsubara butt in again. "What is going on here!? Ruby Rose? Like, from RWBY?"

"What, even old men like you know who I am?" Ruby recoiled.

"What's wrong with old guys watching your show?" he tried to defend himself.

Ignoring him, Selesia asked the new girl, "So Ruby, are you saying the Military Uniform Princess sent you here to try and recruit us?"

"Right," Ruby nodded. "She explained everything to me, how this world is the one where all of our worlds were created. And how all the people in our worlds who are in trouble or pain can be saved using this world's power!"

Selesia sighed and gave the younger girl a sympathetic look. "I can imagine what she's told you, but I'm afraid it's not that simple."

"But why not? Our creators are here, we just have to find them! They can make everything better. Isn't your world the same as mine, where terrible things happen and no matter how hard we try we can't stop them?"

Sota saw Selesia's free hand clench. He could tell she was fast losing patience with Ruby and this conversation. She'd always been hot headed in her anime, and that wasn't a good combination with someone like Ruby Rose who could be indomitably stubborn in trying to promote unity.

The younger girl clutched her fist over her heart. "I don't think I can forgive any god who creates a cruel world like that."

"On that we can agree," Selesia allowed. She turned her sharp stare on Mr. Matsubara, making the man flinch again. "But I will decide for myself how I feel about my own god. I don't need the Military Uniform Princess' help for that. And she doesn't need my help either."

"What?" Ruby gasped, taking a step away. "But… why don't you understand? This is our chance to help everyone! Wouldn't you do anything to take it?"

"You are on the wrong side, Ruby Rose," Selesia told her. "You allies will only betray you. I'd suggest you take some time to think on what it is you really want, and if you truly think that Princess can actually help you get it."

Ruby tense, glaring at the taller woman, and Sota could feel the temperature in the room start to drop.

"You're the second person now refusing to see beyond your own selfish goals. But I won't be caught off guard this time."

The next thing Sota knew he was plummeting toward the floor, Meteora having pushed him and Mr. Matsubara out of the way. A second later an impossibly large scythe swung through the air, catching Selesia's sword and slamming the woman out the nearby window. Sota looked out to see Selesia take flight, and Ruby was hot on her trails, zipping through the air in clouds of rose petals.

Meteora was soon after them as well, choosing to stay back and protect civilians from falling building debris. After Sota picked himself up he saw Mr. Matsubara was already at the broken window, watching the battle unfold.

"Hey, hey, you," the man sputtered, rounding on Sota and taking him by the shoulders. "Who is that woman you brought with you? This can't be real! No way. This isn't real!"

"Uh, until recently I used to think the same thing." Mr. Matsubara could only gape in stunned silence. Sota glanced over his shoulder, seeing Selesia was on the defensive as Ruby Rose shot at her with high impact sniper rounds. "I-I think we have to get out there and help!"

"Help how!?" Mr. Matsubara complained, though that didn't stop him from following after Sota. They quickly found a stairwell and raced down it, all the while hearing the sounds of the battle raging outside. Sota and Mr. Matsubara rushed out of the lobby with the rest of people fleeing, but they instead chose to stay and watch the fight.

Selesia was able to get a few good hits on Ruby, since she had better fine movement in the air. But Ruby was faster and had better ranged options, constantly keeping Selesia on the back foot.

"Vogelchevalier isn't here," Mr. Matsubara whispered. Sota turned to him, seeing the oddly serious expression on his face. "Without it, that's as far as she can go." Sota knew he was talking about the magically powered mecha Selesia used in her anime. While she was no slouch herself, she had no hope to beat the truly great threats without it.

They could only watch helplessly as Selesia flew back into the building to break Ruby's line of sight, flying past office cubicles. But at the same time Ruby landed on the side of building and ran along the windows, keeping pace with Selesia. So it came as a shock for the knight when she emerged from the other side of the building only to find Ruby already there, and without enough time to do anything about the weapon leveled at her.

"I've got you!" Ruby yelled, pulling the trigger.

With a cry of pain Selesia was launched backward, landing in the adjoining courtyard hard enough to crush the pavement in her way, while Sota and Mr. Matsubara could only look on helplessly. Ruby used her Semblance to gently float to the ground, taking a moment to catch her breath.

But then everything that happened caught up with her and Ruby did a sharp intake of breath, looking around. Everywhere she could see the evidence of battle caused by both her and Selesia, from toppled street posts to impact craters in the sides of buildings. She seemed quite surprised by all the destruction.

"That's weird…" Ruby whispered to herself. She looked to Selesia who was groaning as she picked herself back up, and the sight only left her more stricken. In the woman's side was a bullet hole, and crimson blood leaked steadily from the wound.

"But w-what about your Aura?" Ruby sputtered. "I couldn't have broken it that quickly. You did have an Aura, right? You couldn't have been using your Semblance to fly if you didn't have one!"

"It doesn't work like that in Elemental Symphony!" Mr. Matsubara yelled from where he and Sota were, some distance away. "The humans there are tougher than us, but they don't have special shields like you do. One wrong bullet and they're gone!"

"What… but, how can you not…" Ruby turned back to Selesia. "Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Of course it hurts," the woman ground out, having to lean on her sword like a crutch. "Ugh, I guess in terms of pain the levels from my world are similar enough to over here."

"I had no idea…" Ruby cut herself off, shaking her head and brandishing her scythe once more. "Do you understand now? If we can work together then-"

"Or else what?" Selesia cut in. "You'll beat me even further and make me beg for forgiveness?"

Ruby choked on her words, unable to think of a reply.

"In your world, that might not have been a part of the plot," Selesia continued. "But my story is different. If you're going to chase justice, you can't hold on to idealistic fantasies. You have to see it through to the end with force. Make up your mind."

"Don't be so proud!" Ruby argued, rushing over to her. "It doesn't have to be like that." She leaned down, extending her hand-

-Only to be forced to jump away when Selesia slashed at her again. The blade had nicked her stomach, and while her Aura had in fact saved her from damage, Sota could see she still felt the pain both physically and emotionally.

"I don't know what the people from your world are like," Selesia groused, standing up on shaking feet. "Maybe they're reasonable and willing to abide by your words. Or maybe you're just too young to accept they've been telling you the same thing I am. But what I know for certain is if you use force to serve justice, then no one is going to follow your idealistic scenario.

"No one's going to listen to you!" Selesia yelled, her hair flying in the wind.

"Just stop, please!" Ruby pleaded. "I didn't mean to hurt you! I don't want to fight if it means going that far!"

"Don't be so spoiled," Selesia spat.

"Please, just listen to what I have to say! Or else…" Tear in her eyes, Ruby brought up her sniper once more, loading a magazine with a picture of a ball of fire on its side into the gun.

 _No..._ Sota's feet were moving before he even knew it, taking him toward the confrontation. He didn't know what he could do against super powered people like these, but he couldn't leave Selesia to die, not after she'd already saved him.

"Do it little girl!" the knight challenged.

"Stand down!" Ruby barked.

"Never!"

"Don't make me do this!"

"Do it!"

"Stop!"

"Shoot!"

Ruby pulled the trigger, and Sota screamed his friend's name in vain.

Meteora tried to reach her, but no magic could top the speed of a bullet, and so she was forced back as a ball of flame erupted around Selesia. The light completely overtook her, and Sota felt his heart constrict. There was no way she could have dodged; no way she could have blocked all that. And that meant… she was really…

It only took a second for the flames to die down but the smoke still lingered, obscuring the scene. Everyone had stopped, watching the aftermath of Ruby's attack. The only person to match Sota's look of despair was Ruby, who was breathing heavily as the weight of what she'd done started to crash down on her.

"Wait, in the smoke!" Mr. Matsubara yelled.

Sota's breath caught in his throat, and in the smoke he saw it. The outline of a person still standing. But it didn't look like Selesia. This was person was taller, broader, and… holding a cane?

"Who's there?" Ruby demanded, chambering another round.

At first there was nothing. Then a low chuckling filled the air, a man's voice.

"Little Red, Little Red, it has been a long time, hasn't it?"

Ruby gasped. "No… it couldn't…"

The man swung his cane, dispelling the cloud of smoke from around himself and the stupefied looking but still very much alive Selesia crouched behind him. Sota breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her alright. The man of course was unscathed, since Sota knew he had an Aura to protect himself with.

Mr. Matsubara caught up to Sota and asked him, "Is that who I think it is?"

"It is," he nodded. "Roman Torchwick."

"But how?" Ruby gaped at him, unable to comprehend how the man she'd watch die in her show was standing before her.

"Shooting a defenseless girl while she's down," Roman observed with a sly grin. "Gotta say, Red, that's pretty cold, especially coming from you. Though I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, considering you left me to die inside both a burning ship and a Grimm's stomach." He placed a hand over his heart. "You make me so proud, Red."

"S-shut up!" she cursed at him. "What are you doing here, Torchwick? Come to ruin everything like always?"

"Me? I don't know if you've noticed but I just saved the damsel in distress. That sounds pretty darn heroic to me."

"Call me a damsel again and I'll cut you," Selesia warned him.

"Sheesh, I can't win with any woman, can I?"

"You won't win ever, Torchwick!" Ruby claimed, readying her weapon. "I beat you once, I can beat you again!"

"You won with a deus ex machina!" Roman complained. "But please, I'd be more than happy to prove to you how a real fight between us-"

The neighing of a horse cut him off, much to Torchwick's chagrin. Sota looked up and was amazed to see a heavily armored woman on horseback flying through the air with as much ease as Selesia. With a war cry the blonde woman charged at Torchwick, leveling a weighty spear at him. Roman cursed and brought his Melodic Cudgel to bear, deflecting the woman's attack. She broke off but quickly came around again, making an even faster pass at Roman. This time he chose to dodge out of the way rather than try to shrug off her might.

Instead going for another attack the female knight instead galloped toward Ruby. "It's you," the girl said to her. Her look of wonderment quickly morphed into one of indignation when the knight grabbed a hold of Ruby's hood and dragged her away into the air. She glared at those still on the ground while she and her ally rode off. Only once they were gone did Sota and Mr. Matsubara relax.

"Was that a fictional character too?" the older man asked Sato.

"It looked like Alicetaria of Scarlet," Sota confirmed. That didn't concern him at the moment, and ignoring Mr. Matsubara's confusion Sota rushed over to make sure Selesia was okay.

"Sota, stay back!" she called to him, stopping him in his tracks. Selesia had her weapon raised again, pointed at Torchwick's back, and Meteora had floated over to side, ready to provide support.

"Really, is that the kind of thanks I get for saving you?" Roman asked. "You hero types are always so frustrating."

"Why you-" Selesia made to make a swing but quickly buckled over, clutching at her bullet wound. Metoera moved to help her stand and prepared a healing spell, probably seeing Torchwick wasn't as much of a threat to them as Selesia did.

" _Hey, you guys, wait!_ " someone called to them in a language Sota didn't understand. Behind the Creations he could see two men coming toward them. One was of robust weight with a round and friendly face with an impressive beard, while the other was shorter with a bowl cut hairdo and a youthful face.

"Hey, I think I know those guys," Mr. Matsubara realized. "Let's see, um, _Is you two men Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross_?"

" _Yes, that's us_ ," the taller one – Mr. Luna if Sota was correct – confirmed when they were close enough, both breathing heavily from the running.

"They most certainly are!" Torchwick added, laughing jovially as he crossed over to throw his arms around the two men. "These guys here are the ones who created me and the living hell that my life is!"

He eyed the rest of them with a mischievous glint in his emerald eyes. "So what are your sob stories?"

* * *

 _Author's Note: For those who don't know, this was a cross over fic where Ruby finds herself in the events of Re:Creators, an anime that came out in 2017 and is one of my personal favorite shows. The plots involves several fictional characters from various in-universe media somehow coming to life in our own world, and the kinds of funny events and chaotic clashes that can arise from their presence. The characters used today are as follows:_

 _Ruby Rose, one of the main characters of RWBY. I'd honestly be impressed if you somehow navigated to this fic without knowing that in the first place._

 _Roman Torchwick, Ruby's main rival throughout the first three volumes who was able to catch a lucky(?) break after his death in Volume 3._

 _Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross, the lead writers of RWBY, with special guest appearance from Gray Haddock, who does the voice of Roman. All are very cool dudes and I think them for their work on creating RWBY._

 _Altair, aka The Military Uniform Princess, who serves as the antagonist in Re:Creators._

 _Sota Mizushino, the main protagonist of Re:Creators whom despite just being a normal high school student still might hold the secrets as to why fictional characters are crossing over into his world._

 _Selesia Upiteria, the female lead from the ongoing Manga/Anime series Elemental Symphony of Vogulchevalier. She is the first Creation Sota meets when she clashes with Altair._

 _Takashi Matsubara, who is the lead writer for Selesia's story, though he leaves it to a close friend to do the artwork._

 _Meteora Osterreich, an NPC from a video game called Avalken. The second Creation Sota meets and who might be the only one truly capable of going head to head with Altair's magical abilities._

 _Aliceteria February, from the Aliceteria of Scarlet manga series, which is similar in certain respects to Berserk in which they both feature an overpowered protagonist who still struggles to keep other people alive in their stories' grim settings._

 _There are many more interesting and well designed characters in Re:Creators, and if you're in the mood for a well written, beautifully animated action-adventure anime then I wholeheartedly recommend trying this one out._


	19. The Rescue

**The Prompt** \- A sequel to any prompt you've written in the past, so naturally I wanted to include another piece into the Amnesiac!Cinder saga.

 **The Characters -** Jaune Arc, James Ironwood, Winter Schnee, Cinder Fall, Blake Belladonna, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie and Oscar Pine/Ozpin.

* * *

The room's fluorescent bulbs bathed Jaune in sterile white light. Irritating to the eyes, and he got the feeling that was the point. It was an interrogation room, after all. He glanced down at the manacles on his wrists, keeping him chained to the table. They were electronic, intricate, nothing a mere locksmith could hope to undo. Even if Jaune could somehow get them off, he knew there was nowhere to go.

The lock on the door clicked, and Jaune looked up when it opened. Revealed was General Ironwood, the man who'd been hunting him and his friends for the better part of the last month in his search for Cinder. He nodded to the soldiers standing guard just outside before stepping in, and the door locked into place behind him.

"Where is Cinder?" Jaune asked immediately. There was nothing else more important to him than knowing she was safe.

"You are not in a position to be making demands, Arc," the general informed him, taking the opposite seat. He steepled his hands and said, "You are within my custody, and if you cooperate then I may be able to help you."

Jaune ignored him. "Where is she?"

Ironwood's eyes narrowed, the closest the man ever came to looking displeased. "Fall has been sedated and is being kept in a secure medical facility on the base. She is not in immediate danger."

Only then did Jaune relax and breathe a sigh of relief. He'd seen Cinder come back to him, felt it, but after what he had to do the worry wouldn't leave his mind.

"I want you to tell me what happened in that bunker, Arc," the man went on saying. "Our machines have already been able to determine the power of the Fall Maiden no longer resides in the woman. What did you do?"

"I… did what she asked me to. I killed her, just long enough to make the powers leave her, and then I brought her back. We used the chemicals to do it."

"The poison on the adrenaline booster Winter stole, yes. Quite curious at the time of the theft, but obvious in hindsight." Ironwood placed his hands flat on the table and stared Jaune directly in the eye. "But why did you being her back if you knew she was dead?"

Jaune didn't flinch. "Because I care about her. Because she's my friend. Because she's a good person and she deserves a chance to live."

"You do realize what she's done? What she did to you specifically?"

"I know a woman I loved was murdered by a psychopath while our school fell around us. I know just as well as you how much damage Cinder Fall caused to Vale and the world. But I also know that woman is as good as dead. The Cinder Fall you have now, that isn't her. She's someone else entirely." His fists clenched. "And I will do anything to protect her."

Ironwood didn't have an immediate response, masking his surprise if he felt it. Instead he leaned back and studied Jaune critically for a moment before speaking again.

"Do you know where the Fall Maiden's powers are now?"

"I don't. Even if I did I wouldn't tell you."

"You didn't command Fall to envision a specific woman as she departed? Or she didn't mention anyone?"

"We didn't exactly have a lot of time to go over the details," Jaune snarked.

"This is not a game, Arc," the man growled. "Those powers can cause a great deal of devastation if left in the wrong hands. I need to know where they are in order to protect everything we hold dear."

Jaune scoffed and looked away. He talked about wanting to be a protector, but Jaune knew Ironwood just wanted to hold all the cards so he could lord them over everyone else as he saw fit. He wasn't as manipulative as Ozpin, but he could be no less dangerous himself.

When the silence dragged on it became clear to Ironwood the conversation was done for, as there was nothing either of them could give the other. With a sigh the man stood and left Jaune to stew in silence. But when he reached the door he paused, glancing at Jaune over his shoulder.

"I feel it necessary to inform you, Arc, since Fall is no longer in the possession of the Maiden powers, her execution has been scheduled for the morning."

" _What?!_ " Jaune shot up but the chains clanked in protest, keeping him from standing to his full height. "You can't do that!"

"She is an enemy of the state, and without anything useful to give us since her memories prior to the Fall of Beacon have been wiped, there is no reason to keep her alive." Ironwood turned away from him. "I'm sorry."

"Fuck you!" Jaune kept struggling against his cuffs for what little good it did. "She's just a girl! You can't just kill an innocent person you sick bastard!"

"She threw away her innocence the moment she attacked Vale. I have to do this, Arc, it's what justice demands."

"It's slaughter!" he snarled. "Ironwood, I swear to any gods who'll listen if you hurt her I won't stop until-!"

A wave of blue energy passed through the room, and then the lights went out.

A second later the backup lights came on, bathing the room in red now. A click made Jaune jump, and he looked down to find his cuffs had snapped off his wrists. Then he saw Ironwood collapse, his face drawn in pain as his natural hand clenched at his artificial arm.

"General?" he wondered, moving over to him. For the moment his confusion overrode his anger and Jaune helped him into a sitting position. "What's going on?"

"EMP," the general said through grit teeth. "Electro magnetic pulse. Someone's attacking the base."

On cue an explosion rocked the room. Outside Jaune could hear men shouting orders as they moved to combat the threat.

"Salem's forces?" Jaune wondered aloud.

"Maybe, maybe yours, no way to tell," Ironwood ground out. He seemed to be in a lot of pain.

"Did that EMP mess with your cybernetics?" Jaune asked. "Do you need help?"

"After the battle." Ironwood fixed him with a glare. "You and I are staying here."

Jaune huffed but couldn't argue. Ironwood still saw him as a threat so naturally the man wasn't about to give him the chance to break out when the General's soldiers came to help him.

Then suddenly right outside the door they heard a scream of surprise, a quick staccato of gunfire, another scream, and then silence. A moment later the door opened, this time revealing Winter Schnee. It only took her a second to notice Ironwood on the ground.

"Sir!" Despite her current allegiance and how the General had treated her, she still didn't hesitate to crouch next to him and inspect him for injury. "The EMP must have fried the connecting implants. How are the energy conductors?"

"Still working, as far as I can tell."

"Then your life isn't in immediate danger," Winter sighed. Then she finally noticed Jaune, a frown marring her face as she remembered what she was here for. "I'm sorry, sir, but we have to go. You'll be safe here."

The two of them stood, with Ironwood trying to grab onto Winter. "You're making a mistake, Schnee. You can't let her live."

"That isn't a decision you or I can make, sir." With guilt clear as day weighing on her shoulders Winter led Jaune out of the room and sealed the door behind them.

As much as Jaune would have liked to give Winter a moment to process going against her mentor, they didn't have the time. "Do you know what's going on? Who's attacking the base?"

"Unfortunately I don't, to either question. I figured in any event it would be prudent to break out and save you as well." She turned to him. "Jaune, I couldn't find Cinder in any of the other cells. I don't know if we have enough time to-"

"The infirmary," Jaune informed her. "They have Cinder sedated."

"We have plenty of time then, I know where that is. Follow me."

She would get no argument from him and Jaune followed along dutifully. Winter weaved them through the hallways of the base, making them stop occasionally to hide from soldiers rushing off to perform their duties. Thankfully they were too focused on the attack, and Jaune and Winter were not delayed before arriving at the infirmary.

Winter wasted no time kicking the doors open and raising a pilfered firearm. "Nobody move!"

Jaune trailed after her to find a collection of doctors and soldiers all freeze at Winter's command. The soldiers in particular were all gathered around a single bed housing a certain brunette, and looked to have been in the process of moving her.

"Back away," Winter ordered them, and they had enough survival instinct to raise their hands and do as the woman said. "Jaune, grab her."

She needn't have asked twice, and Jaune quickly crossed to Cinder's side. She didn't look good to his eyes, too small and pallid. He pulled a gas mask off her face and removed IV needles from her arms as carefully as he could. With her free of the machines Jaune picked up Cinder in bridal carry and cradled her head against his chest. He was ecstatic be to her holding her again, but Jaune knew his emotions would have to wait.

Being careful not to jostle her too much Jaune hustled out of the infirmary. Winter followed a moment later, pausing long enough to place a gravity glyph on the door so no one could get out immediately. Then Winter took the lead again and made her way toward the nearest exit.

They emerged onto the scenes of battle, and a one sided one at that. Black clouds swirled overhead and sent down massive bolts of lightning upon the soldiers trying to muster a defense. Most of their machines were still defunct, and those few airships operational were being tossed around by small tornadoes.

"You there, stop!" a voice yelled. Jaune saw a group of soldiers had in turn taken notice of them as well, and had their weapons leveled at himself and his friends.

Before they could do anything a green blur appeared behind their ranks. In mere seconds they were all felled by precisely aimed chops to the necks. Only one man was left standing, and Jaune gasped in relief at the sight of him.

"Ren!"

"Jaune!" he rushed over to them, breaking out into his own wide smile. "I'm so glad to see you're safe."

"Yourself as well, Lie Ren," said Winter. "What is going on here?"

"It's a rescue operation," Ren stated as if it were the most obvious thing.

"A rescue?" Jaune asked.

"Well, it's not like I could have stopped her after she got her new toys," Ren answered. He looked over his shoulder, and Jaune followed his gaze to see what he hadn't noticed before. A woman stood atop the barrier walls, her form outlined by the constant flashes of lightning.

"I am the Valkyrie Queen!" the woman cheered, hefting her hammer high into the sky. A lightning bolt struck it on cue for added effect. "All shall bow down to my beautiful and terrible reign!"

"She didn't…" Winter gabbed.

"She did," Ren corrected. "Evidently Cinder trusted Nora enough to make her the new Fall Maiden. Naturally, she's having a lot of fun with it."

The ginger girl laughed maniacally as she rained super charged grenades upon the enemy.

Ren looked to the charge in Jaune's arms. "We all feared the worst when we realized what happened. Is Cinder…?"

"Cinder's fine now," Jaune told him. "That's all that matters to me."

"To me as well," Ren said happily. "Come, Nora can only keep them distracted for so long. Blake and Oscar should have been in the process of acquiring a Bullhead."

Jaune and Winter both nodded and followed after Ren. They stayed to the outskirts of the battle to avoid the weapons fire. They arrived at one corner of the encampment, where they found Blake dealing with soldiers trying to halt their progress on the Bullhead.

"Ozpin's got it up and running," she informed them, and no one wasted time climbing on board, Ren helping Jaune carrying the unconscious Cinder Fall.

Winter staggered to the front of the aircraft, where Oscar sat in the pilot's seat. "I'm flying," she informed the boy.

"It's okay, Ozpin learned how to-"

" _I'm flying._ "

"Okay." He quickly scooted out of the way to avoid the woman's wrath. As the rest of them got secure in the holding area, Winter navigated the vehicle into the air. She pulled the craft into a low turn to circle over the base, giving Nora the chance to make an electrically charged jump into the ship. With everyone collected Winter punched it, and soon the base was growing increasingly smaller behind them.

As soon as they got the doors closed, Nora glommed onto her friend. "Jaune! I'm so glad you're safe! Ren was worried sick and insisted we come get you!"

Jaune pulled the both of them into a tight hug. "I'm really glad to see you guys too. I can't thank you enough for saving Cinder and me."

"Ahem?" a voice crackled over the intercom.

"And Winter thanks you too."

"We would have never left you behind, not after what you've both done for us," Ren said. He moved to Cinder's side to double check she was safely in her harness, and place a hand over her forehead to check on her.

"I'm amazed she trusted Nora enough with the Maiden abilities," Blake commented.

"It's just proof that Cindy loves us just as much as we love her," Nora explained with a smile. "Oh, Jaune, check it out! I can do this now!" Nora held her two hands up, palms open but not touching, and with a mental command Nora had small bolts of electricity arcing between her finger tips as she cackled with glee.

Jaune just laughed as he watched his friend and her antics. He looped a hand around Cinder's shoulders and pulled her close to make sure she was safe against him. He was so incredibly happy she was alive, that they all were, and he had every intention of telling her that once she woke up.


	20. Looking into the Mirror

**The Prompt** \- Same as last time, a sequel to another prompt you've written, and this time I wanted to continue the Mirrorverse.

 **The Characters -** Ruby Rose, Cinder Regalia, Jaune x2, Nora x2, Ren x2, Qrow x2, Oscar Pine and his Aunt, with guest appearances from Yang, Weiss, Emerald and Mercury.

* * *

Dinner was somewhat of an awkward affair. Understandable, given three pairs of the guests were near spitting images of one another, and the other two guests couldn't help the fact they kept sending confused glares to each other.

Their hosts, Oscar Pine and his Aunt, were gracious enough to provide them with a meal and a place to stay for the night. They were also kind enough not to berate them all with questions when they themselves were still trying to figure out the answers. Over his bowl of ramen Jaune glanced at the Other Jaune, not surprised when the other blonde only shrugged in confusion. It was a process they'd repeated several times now whilst swapping roles.

The only ones not at the dinner table with them were the two Qrows. They went off to go eat in the barn, saying one Qrow was bad enough but two of him could be apocalyptic, whatever that meant.

After what fell like an eternity of silence the two Rens decided they'd finally had enough and held up their fists together. After three pumps in the air Jaune's Ren laid his hand flat for paper while Other Ren kept his fist balled up for rock.

"Alright, I think we can all agree something strange is going on," Other Ren addressed the group, to which everyone put down their utensils to weigh in. "For reasons we don't know or understand, one of our two groups might have somehow traveled into an alternate reality or universe."

"I think you guys might have come into our world," Oscar piped in, gesturing to Jaune and his friends. "I remember after Beacon fell news started circulating about a young girl in a red hood to be wary of, and obviously your Ruby Rose isn't some mass murderer or whatever."

"Without definitive knowledge of the situation either outcome yields the same result," Cinder Regalia stated. Flicking her bright blonde hair out of her face she said, "It would help if we knew how our two worlds came together."

"Maybe our Rose has some kind of Semblance that can warp reality," Other Nora pondered.

"From what I saw the other Ruby has the same abilities as me," Ruby clarified. "She seems stronger, but I'm pretty certain tearing holes in reality isn't something I can do."

"Maybe it's magic?" Oscar tried.

"That sounds dumb," both Jaune and Other Jaune said together.

"Speculating on the how doesn't help us for now," Ren interjected. "If anything I'd like to know more about this Other Ruby Rose. Compared to our own she seems downright vile."

"Vile is too nice a word for her," Cinder sneered. "Unfortunately I don't know much more than you do. I only fought her once and nearly lost my life for it. I know she has some connection with a woman named Weiss Schnee."

"That's my partner!" Ruby chimed in.

"Your partner?" Other Nora said with a frown. "Wait, did you go to Beacon?"

"Yep, Ozpin let me in even though I'm two years younger than everyone else because I was able to hold off Roman Torchwick on my own when he tried to rob a Dust store. Weiss was my partner, and together with my friend Blake Belladonna and my older sister Yang we made up Team RWBY."

"You and Yang Xiao Long are sisters?" Other Jaune asked, eyes wide.

"Half-sisters," Jaune corrected for him. "Yeah, it threw us for a loop too."

"Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long, the transfer students from Atlas," Other Ren thought out loud. "In our world they both helped to sow the chaos that led to Beacon's fall, but in your world it sounds like they were just as righteous as you, Ruby Rose."

"Team RWBY was the best crime fighting force around," Ruby boasted.

"We're right here you know," Nora reminded her.

"Eh, you guys helped some times."

"And if Belladonna was also on your team I'm guessing she didn't have the time to lead the White Fang," Cinder asked.

"No way, Blake was way too busy trying to stop the White Fang. I think she said the guy in charge was an old friend of hers named Adam or something."

"Adam Taurus," Cinder sighed. "That makes sense. He was my partner, and we were on a team with Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black, Team Carmine."

"Emerald and Mercury were the two who always followed our Cinder around," Jaune remembered. "They somehow managed to set up Yang during a fight she had with Mercury during the tournament, and he took a dive while Yang got the blame."

"I think I'm starting to see a pattern here," Ren said.

Other Ren nodded in agreement. "It would appear our two worlds are near mirror images of each other…"

"With very minor differences, things that wouldn't affect the overall timeline…"

"Except in the case of eight individuals…"

"Whose roles have been completely swapped. Villains become friends…"

"And friends become villains."

"My head is starting to hurt," Other Nora complained.

To Cinder Jaune asked, "How did you and your team wind up together?"

"Oh, we just naturally found each other at Beacon," she said, gaze askance.

Other Jaune spoke up. "I thought you guys all met at the police station fi- YAHAW!"

The poor boy clutched at his shin after Cinder delivered a vicious kick to it to silence him. The damage was done however, Jaune and his group giving the woman unimpressed stares. Cinder sent Other Jaune a glare and explained, "Fine, yes, we had all been arrested at the same time and if it weren't Ozpin showing up we would have certainly ended up in a worse situation."

"I feel like being arrested by the cops sorta pokes a hole in the 'Bad guys turning Good' theory," said Nora while Other Nora nodded.

Cinder did her best to hide her pout and explained, "Well at the very least our intentions were noble! Adam had been captured by Valean forces after robbing an SDC cargo train and rescuing its crew. Mercury actually turned himself in after killing his own father, who was a world class assassin I might point out. And Emerald was caught up in what I believe to be the same Torchwick situation your Rose spoke about."

"And what about you?" Ruby asked.

At this Cinder looked away, slumping in on herself. "Technically I'd not done anything illegal, just ran away from home. But my step-family has connections and made certain I would be detained when I arrived in Vale."

That piqued Jaune's interest to no end, but it was clear Cinder would not say anything more on the matter and the subtle shake of Other Jaune's head let him know to drop it for now.

Cinder coughed to break the tension and regained her composure. "In any event, I think it would be prudent for us all to stick together until we figure out what's going on. We are on our way to Haven Academy, as Ozpin's dying words to me were to collect a Relic housed in the school. I'm guessing your group was headed to the same location for similar reasons?"

"It's where we were told our enemies here headed after Beacon fell," Ruby confirmed. "And yeah, traveling with even more friends sounds good."

The pair of girl leaders sought a second opinion from the table but they faced no objections. Jaune had a feeling the next couple weeks of travel would be extremely confusing trying to keep a mental check on who was who and what they did. But there was strength in numbers, and working together they could probably best any opponent who crossed their paths.

Everything would work out alright.

Just then Qrow burst through the door, face red and slick with sweat.

"Look, before I say anything else, I just want you to know it wasn't out fault."

Behind him they could see a cow rush past, followed closely by Other Qrow whilst screaming obscenities at it.

Ms. Pine stood from the table and glanced out a window. "Are all of the cattle loose?"

"It's not our fault."

" _Is our barn on fire?!_ "

"It's not our fault!"

* * *

 _Meanwhile…_

Yang ducked, the fist meant for her head sailing past and impacting the stone wall behind her instead. The rock splintered and blew apart like it was made of pretzels.

The bandit camp was in ruins, its residents scattered in panic and Raven nowhere to be seen. At worst Yang had been expecting a fight from Raven. What she hadn't been expecting was to run into an old friend, a pair of old enemies, and two new people who by all accounts shouldn't even exist.

So too did she dodge the follow up attack, but the blow of that fist striking the ground was still enough to kick Yang off her feet and send her flying back. While dazed on the ground her opponent tried to capitalize, but a hail of bullets cut her off. She brought up an arm to shield herself and bullets pinged ineffectively off the metal.

Yang shook off her daze and took the chance to pick herself up, quickly putting distance between herself and the monster of rage trying to kill her. She took up a stance next to the gunman who saved her, still not quite processing exactly who her new erstwhile ally was.

Emerald Sustrai. One of Cinder's cronies, the same who apparently made Yang believe Mercury had attacked her after their match in the Vytal Festival. But Sustrai was different from the girl she'd last seen. This one wore a bandana over her eyes, the same shade of red, and she wore a duster jacket. Of course strangest of all was the fact both Emerald and her partner were actually helping Yang and her friend.

She glanced over Emerald's shoulder to the other battle unfolding, where Mercury Black was supporting Weiss Schnee as they faced off against a short, white haired woman in a dark grey dress who could more than match Weiss move for move and glyph for glyph.

"So you wanna give me the rundown and exactly what's going on?" Yang asked this new Emerald.

The girl shrugged, not turning to look at Yang. "You guess is as good as mine. All I know is that thing over there probably doesn't have an issue with killing the both of us."

Yang looked back at their enemy. Golden hair ablaze with fire, eyes seeping with unnatural red light, and two mechanical arms pouring out steam. She pounded two metal fists the size of watermelons together, the sound like a train hitting a wall of granite, and she let out a guttural laugh.

"This is gonna be fun," said the Other Yang.


End file.
